Today’s Baby Boomer, a striking woman with huge eyes and some fabulous patterns. One of my series of 30 minute portrait sketches of my generation. I’m aiming to do a hundred – I’m about a quarter of the way through.
The Scarf
Another day, another Baby Boomer sketch, done in under 30 minutes, recording my generation. I used graphite sticks into an A5 spiralbound sketchbook. It’s nice to have something like a scarf to draw around the neck.
Spectacles
And another of my Baby Boomer portrait sketches, all done in under 30 minutes into an A5 spiral bound sketchbook, this one with graphite sticks. Spectacles are so difficult to do – if you don’t get them right, it throws all the other proportions out.
Talking ‘Bout My Generation
Continuing with my series of 30 minute sketches of baby boomers – my generation……..
Eyes Wide Shut
I’m going to post a series of my Baby Boomer drawings over the next few days. I’ve been doing quite a few lately. This model wanted to read during our 30 minutes together and it’s interesting for me because she’s the only person so far that hasn’t had their eyes wide open.
That Goldilocks Moment
I’ve been experimenting today. I was given some large pieces of robust tissue paper by a fellow artist and invited to do something with them and then give them back to her for her installation. I decided to cover them with rubbings made from a very large woodcut I have been working on. It isn’t finished yet so I don’t have any prints but the rubbings picked up the developed parts nicely.
I tried out a few different drawing materials to start with. First, carbon, compressed charcoal and Bideford Black (looked good but too smudgy). Secondly, Chinese charcoal (too hard, ripped the paper). And finally, Graphite block (perfect, didn’t rip, didn’t smudge, nice metallic sheen). Bit like Goldilocks and the porage.
There are differing opinions on how to spell porage, which is the spelling I always use but many use porridge and, rarely, parritch. I love the stuff, made nice and thin (Husb contemptuously calls it gruel – he likes it thick enough to stand your spoon in) and I put a knob of butter in mine, I’m not fond of sugar. When I was in Pakistan I had porage made from cracked wheat rather than oats, nice but very different.
A very interesting read “Balthus. Part 1. Mitsou and the King of the Cats”
Fleeting Moments
I’m on a roll with the Baby Boomer sketches. I’m trying to do as many as possible at The SPace before our lease runs out in mid-February. If there are any Baby Boomers in the Swansea area who fancy posing for a 30 minute sketch and being part of this project, please get in touch. I can’t guarantee that it will look exactly like you – if I was doing a formal portrait I’d do loads of drawings over several sittings. Sometimes the sketches look very much like the sitter, sometimes not and sometimes just a bit. But the important thing for me is meeting and talking to other Baby Boomers and capturing those fleeting moments in a quick drawing.
Baby Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964. I’m aiming to draw a hundred Baby Boomers over the next few months. I’m up to almost 30. Eventually the drawings will be converted to photographic silkscreens and put into a print installation.
Velvet Loons
I’m inviting people to come down to The SPace on Swansea’s High Street to be drawn for my series of 30 minute drawings of Baby Boomers. I’m aiming to do 100 in all and I reached number 23 today. Eventually I’ll be using all 100 images in a large installation, still in the early planning stages, but for the time being I’m enjoying talking and drawing. An important part of the whole experience for me is the series of conversations I’m having, discussing the landmarks in our lives, the things that are iconic, the experiences we had. It’s odd that the Baby Boomers are now more or less the elder generation, it seems hardly any time ago we were partying in our velvet loons and platform boots back in the 1970s (and 1960s and 1980s).
The SPace is a temporary outreach pop-up gallery and studio from Swansea Print Workshop and Coastal Housing Group. It’s open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11.30 – 5.00 until mid-February.
A Shared History
I’m carrying on with my 30 minute drawings of Baby Boomers and here’s another. It’s a lovely experience for me, I get to draw and also to sit and talk with lovely people as well. I’m not sure it’s such a nice experience for the people who sit for me – being stared at by me for half an hour. A lot of my sitters are local, well, all live locally, but some are from other places originally and it’s interesting for me to listen to their experiences and how they differ from mine. Most of us have something in common – we share a similar culture and history, but many differences as well.
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