Scrapings

Waste not, want not. That’s what my Nana used to say. It’s stuck with me through my life. So when I have some acrylic paint left over from my Faking Fridays, (at The Cheese And Wine Painting Club) I’ve been scraping it onto scraps of heavyweight leftover paper, like Bockingford. I had a bit thatContinue reading “Scrapings”

I Like A Recliner

I love to draw a reclining pose at life drawing. It’s my favourite – I’m a glutton for awkward foreshortening. It’s a nice one for the model too, they can relax a bit after the series of short poses – this is a 60 minute pose. I used three conté crayons in white, sanguine andContinue reading “I Like A Recliner”

Quick Ones

  We always start the life drawing sessions at Swansea Print Workshop with some short warm-up poses, because of the speed they’re very free and force you to get down what is essential in the figure rather than focusing on detail. It’s also  chance to play around with mark making – scribbly lines and veryContinue reading “Quick Ones”

Building The Drawing

Here’s one of the 30 minute drawings I did the other evening at Swansea Print Workshop. I photographed it as I went along, showing how it developed. I used black, white and sanguine conté crayons onto black paper. Here are some close ups of sections of the drawing. We have some brilliant models to workContinue reading “Building The Drawing”

Drawing All Evening, Time For Bed

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I worked at an easel so I was on my feet for nearly 3 hours and I’m shattered, so I’m going off to bed. This is a detail of a 30 minute pose with one of our lovely models.

A Bit Renaissance-y

Here’s the last of the life drawings I did at Swansea Print Workshop last week. It’s a 60 minute pose and I used black paper with conté crayons in black, white and sanguine. Our model wore a long scarf draped over her head and shoulders and combined with the materials, it’s all a bit Renaissance-y.Continue reading “A Bit Renaissance-y”

In Praise Of Life Models

The life models who pose at Swansea Print Workshop are experienced, patient and also physically and mentally fit – you have to be in order to keep still for anything up to an hour. I’ve done it a few times myself and it’s really hard going. Our model this week held this pose on herContinue reading “In Praise Of Life Models”

Timed poses

At the life drawing group at Swansea Print Workshop we start with a few short timed poses to warm up and get the measure of our model. Here are the two five minute poses we began with – our model is terrific, she’s been with us for years. Here’s one of the 30 minute posesContinue reading “Timed poses”

Life Drawing, Cheese And Cats Protection

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. It’s an intense 3 hours and it’s late now so I’ll post the rest tomorrow. And this came earlier – a lovely delivery from The Welsh Cheese Company … they use sheeps wool for packaging and our local Cats Protection recycle it for insulation for theContinue reading “Life Drawing, Cheese And Cats Protection”

Finishing A Sketchbook

A few weeks into the pandemic lockdown, when it became obvious that it was going to last a long while, I set myself some lockdown challenges. One is to improve my painting skills, which I’ve been doing with the Friday Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, practising faking well known paintings. Another is toContinue reading “Finishing A Sketchbook”