Tag Archives: life drawing

Why Life Drawing?

I’m often asked why I do life drawing. Partly it’s because the portrayal of the human form in European art dates back around 40,000 years to cave paintings; partly because I love to study anatomy, it’s complex and I love it; and partly because I was trained in the discipline of regular drawing exercise, whichContinue reading “Why Life Drawing?”

Like Watching Clouds

I carried on doing some intuitive drawing today, using some of the Fabriano paper I marbled last week; the ones I left outside to dry and then forgot about and left out overnight. The papers have been chewed and roughened by snails and it makes the surface more interesting. I stood across the room andContinue reading “Like Watching Clouds”

See How It Goes

  I’m going into a phase of experimentation for a while. I have been marbling some Fabriano Accademica paper with black oil pigment and turpentine and I left it out in the garden to dry out; it was quite smelly because of the turps. I forgot about it and it was out overnight and whenContinue reading “See How It Goes”

Return To Life

I’ve been so busy with the series of silkscreen prints over the past few weeks that I haven’t been to life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop for ages. So back to normal this evening and I did this head study using my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 with the free Markers app. I saved theContinue reading “Return To Life”

Waste Not, Want Not.

  So I was working with some fellow artists and one of them, a painter, chucked some black oil paint mixed with turps down the sink. Unfortunately, the sink was blocked so he filled it with water and squeezed some washing up liquid into it and suddenly it went all marbled. So, waste not, wantContinue reading “Waste Not, Want Not.”

A Renaissance Video

Husb has been turning my digital drawings into short videos, showing how the sketches develop from nothing to completion. I’ve been drawing on a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 using a free Markers app and Husb has used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit them. This is one I did from a drawing by Raphael. Sometimes it’sContinue reading “A Renaissance Video”

Evil Foreshortening (Female Nude)

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I had a choice of where to sit so, thinking aloud I said, “Shall I sit side on to draw an easier pose or shall I sit front on and do the really nasty foreshortening?” My sadistic fellow artists said, as one, “Front on! Do theContinue reading “Evil Foreshortening (Female Nude)”

Practice Makes Perfect (male nude)

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop and it was a tough one this evening. The pose is deceptively difficult, with foreshortening of the hands and legs and the model leaning back made the head a bit odd too. I struggled, using several grades of graphite stick onto a vintage Saunders paper. IContinue reading “Practice Makes Perfect (male nude)”

Really Difficult (Female Nude)

  Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I spent an hour drawing this pose in compressed charcoal, chalk and conte crayon, black and white, onto a piece of Saunders vintage paper. It had some severe foreshortening, with both hands and the left foot going in different directions. It’s the most difficult poseContinue reading “Really Difficult (Female Nude)”