Deep And Dark (nude figures)

I spent a happy few hours today at a local housing project for teenagers, working with some of the residents and a group of artists who draw on a ‘Big Draw’ day. We crawled around on the floor, scribbling on HUGE rolls of paper. It was lovely to see the different styles emerge. I normally work from life but today I didn’t take any preparatory drawings with me and worked from my imagination instead. Which is a bit disturbing because look what I came up with! And no, it’s not the bright colourful one with the toadstools, it’s the dark, visceral one at the other end.

I’ve had an idea bouncing around in my head for a few years now. It’s based on the legend of Lilith, the first wife of Adam. This creation story says that Adam and Lilith were both created from clay and I’ve struggled with a way of showing how flesh, blood and bone might emerge from mud, trying to get a grasp on the reality of creatures gestating and birthing in such a way. It wouldn’t be nice. So today I got into ‘the zone’ and let my imagination run riot. It’s  a start, I feel like I’m getting somewhere with it and I’m going to continue to develop this idea. It’s very bleak and some people might be disturbed by the imagery, but it’s what’s coming out of me at the moment so I’ll go along with it and see where it leads.