Exercise - Different angles (option 2)

Sheep's skull drawn from several angles in each drawing I have tried to remain conscious of my mark making, hopefully avoiding marks that I revert to out of habit and in each drawing introducing marks  that different, however subtle, from the last.


1:

2:

3: In this drawing I have been more adventurous with the mark making I think this is most noticeable in  the horn in the foreground. Though the marks are somewhat contrived I think they give the horn a sense of solidity that is not present in the  first two drawings.

4: In the this drawing I have slight dark purple wash to heighten the focus on the sheep's skull and emphasise the light source.

Exercise - Draw & Select (option 2)

Enjoyed the last section of the course and am tempted to stick with  life / portrait drawing in section five  but feel it would be beneficial to do something different and use this as opportunity to revisit a part of the course that was possibly less successful. For this reason and the practical benefits  (no need to find models) I have chosen to do Option 2, Observation in nature as the final assignment.

The outcome I will be hoping for will be stronger drawing, in my opinion (and hopefully my tutor's) than the one produced in section two... needs to show some obvious signs of progression.

Thinking back to still life arrangements at secondary school I remember them including the skull of a horse's head I also remember (positive memories) drawing some bird skeletons that the art teacher had found clearing out a chimney at home... perhaps animal skulls rather than fruit or house plants would be subject matter that I would find more inspiring.

Several skulls ordered from Ebay, not cheap...



Red fox skull:

Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3, longer study:

Replica monkey skull:


Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3, longer study:

Sheep skull:


Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Sketch 3

Sketch 4

Portrait Class 9

Possibly another two week posse, easel at the ready this time making sure I get the view I will feel happier painting.  This time I have decided to use acrylic a decision influenced by the fact that these paints were already out when I entered the studio,  my palette made up of the primaries plus white. I cover my canvas board with purple mixture, my intention was to go darker but it will do, application of initial coat of paint made quicker with the use of a sponge (thanks to the tutor).

With the purple coat down I decide to draw the head and feature using blue, I remembered reading an article in the Evening Standard the previous day that talked about BP Portrait Award and the use of the blue outline in places.

At the end of the 1st session I am happy the painting and am wondering if I want to work into more in the final session, do not want to lose the purple under painting that is coming through.

 

Portrait Class 7/8

Two week posse to be painted using oils, unfortunately for me the position of the model meant I was the head in profile, I would have been happier with a three quarter view... anyway no excuses or jostling for another view I would get to work.  In my opinion there is less scope for suggesting the three dimensional form of the head with the profile view... on the plus side less detail to include (one eye rather than two).


1st session

2nd session

Glad I took photograph at the end of the 1st session otherwise I would have felt at the end of the second session that the progression was fairly minimal, I wouldn't have been satisfied that the improvements verses the amount of time spent were balanced/justified.  We were painting in natural light which added to the challenge, sometime spent reworking areas as the light changed, but feel the end painting gives clear indication of the areas in light and shadow.  Another, reason I don't like the profile view is that I felt obliged to spend more time on the painting the ear, with the three quarter view it's not in the foreground

Portrait Class 6

For the majority of this class, after having discussed the pastel techniques of Degas, looking at the colours he used for the skin tone and his application of this medium we worked,  in soft pastel, on a pose for just over 1 hour. Encouraged, by our tutor, not to use naturalistic colours and to avoid the temptation to blend the pastel with our fingers. Not blending the pastels, which is the case with Degas work, would maintain the vibrance of the colours and the marks of the pastel can be used to define the plains of the head/face.

Not entirely happy with the position of the mouth...needs to move slightly up towards the nose.


For the final half hour of the session we worked with a limited selection of coloured pencils. I chose blue, purple and red. The aim of this exercise was to define the form of the head using a limited amount of shading/marks.

Happier with this drawing than the first, think the limited selection of colours and time helped sharpen/speed up the decision process as to what tonal areas on the model I was going to include in my drawing