HalifaxCB

Lisa, Reflectingly Wicked

2012-01-03T12:09:00.002-04:00

As a bonus, there's this one done at the end of last year, before Lisa escaped the clutches of the university. I really spent waaaaay too much time on the hair (but I quite like it).

Violet

2011-12-14T16:45:00.004-04:00

Both the drawing and Violet are a work in progress, but I get the feeling that what she is working on will be a whole lot better than anything I could ever do.

Jennifer and David

2011-12-13T12:30:00.005-04:00

As I've mentioned before, these two are wonderful two work with, they create very graceful poses that at the same time feel natural.

This one was a a continuation of one posted below:

This is from this weekend. The split down the left hand side of the image is because I had to extend the drawing by about 50%...

Tuesday Data Dump

2011-12-13T12:22:00.004-04:00

I'm so bad at keeping current these days. Which is good, it means I'm busy working. Here's some drawings from the last little while:

Jenny and Shorty (Shorty really gets in the modeling mood when Jenny's working...):

David and Jennifer (this one has been changed, I'll put it up in another post)

Anne Marie

Richard - this one is from a life drawing group, when the model didn't make it, so Richard got stuck with the task. Good job Richard!

Lise:

Book Porn

2011-12-02T23:53:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm falling behind as usual, but to keep things interesting, here's a blog that definitely worth a look! Book Porn

How could I not fall for a site that has pictures like this?

David & Jennifer, and Lisa

2011-11-18T11:39:00.003-04:00

I have been spending too much time on the latest encaustic (with nothing to show for it yet), but here's a couple from this week....
David and Jennifer

Lisa

This one has some odd artifacts in it because I didn't plan the drawing too well, and had to extend the paper to the left and below.

Jennifer and David, Tangled

2011-11-06T12:14:00.004-04:00

Not much to say, other than I love working with the visual rhythms David and Jennifer set up. And I could have spent a week on the hands alone....

A Couple of Couples

2011-11-01T23:08:00.003-03:00

A couple of couples from the last little while.

Jenny and Eric

Jennifer and David:

I quite like both, but I think the second is quite special. I like the feeling of sheltering and sheltered created by David and Jennifer, and it would be be worth pushing forward into something more permanent. If, of course, David's back can take it (it's actually a difficult pose to hold). In return, I promise to put in his missing fingers.

Jenny and Shorty

2011-10-17T16:55:00.004-03:00

At an ungodly hour of the morning - we got started at 8:30. The sacrifices on must make for art. And Shorty, as usual, was up and down off the couch, curling up at Jenny's feet and grumbling; getting up and moving to her lap, sulking on the floor, he finally gave up trying to be king of the couch and curled up in the other room under the piano. I think in his next life (which may come sooner than he expects) he'll be a diva in Hollywood....

Jenny's a whole lot more fun (and professional) to work with. But for the moment when he was actually settled in, it was rather cute. I think with a few tweaks it might be a usable composition.

Jenny and Eric

2011-10-16T16:46:00.005-03:00

Jenny's friend Eric had some time to kill, so he came for our session on last Monday. (For someone who had never modeled before he did well.) I've just started to get back into drawing couples - the day before I had done Jennifer and David, but I'm still working on it (it's a delightful tangle of arms and legs and heavy perspective). Working with couples is very different than drawing a single model, partly because one has to draw a lot faster, and partly because two people set up a visual rhythm between them. And of course it gives me twice as many people to converse with.

That one took awhile, but we still had a bit of time left at the end for a "quick and dirty" sketch. Lots of drawing errors, but I still quite like it.

Lisa Still Wicked

2011-10-16T12:39:00.006-03:00

Well not Lisa herself, just the book she is reading. As for me, I'm trying to push the perspective a bit, though it is hard in a small studio. We got two done - I prefer the second to the first.
Here's the first:

The second was rather fun to draw. Lisa took up a pose on the floor with her feet up against the couch, and I stood up on the couch. I wish I had planned the drawing better (or that I had larger paper), I would have liked to get more of her feet in!

As for wicked reading, I'm still engaged in Henry Miller, & am now on my third book in 10 days. Great stuff, though I really should have read it 40 years ago!. Thanks JR.

A Nude Model's Story of Humility and Joy

2011-10-10T10:01:00.001-03:00

Anya Wassenberg, writing on HuffPo:

I was going to be an important and well-paid writer, see. The modelling thing, that was just to tide me over till the whole writing gig took off, because I knew that you could basically walk in off the street and get work taking your clothes off for artists. But in the end, I found I liked it so much that I never gave it up. I found that there are many advantages to modelling for artists, though none of them is what you'd expect.

You can read the whole thing here.

Lisa Recumbent

2011-10-06T17:56:00.004-03:00

Today was something different with Lisa - I asked her to take the first pose, which is actually a fairly uncomfortable one. I also worked from above, rather than on the same level as the model. She did a good job holding it, and getting back into it after breaks (thanks Lisa!).

I also wished I had slightly wider paper, I would have liked to get the book she was reading into it, Gregory Maguire's Wicked. But it is definitely on my reading list now.

After a hard pose, an easier one, at least for the model. For this one I had my back to the window, and although the shades were drawn the sun (rare thing around here these days!) was streamed in and made it almost impossible to see the sanguine conte on the paper. One does what one must! The cutest part was that Shorty went and actually lay down near her feet - something he will almost ever do for anybody. I think it's because he gets two car rides when Lisa works here...

David Rocks It. (with Bach and Josquin)

2011-10-06T17:34:00.007-03:00

Tuesday I worked with David; the warmup sketches were wretched as my hand and mind seem to be going in opposite directions, and even the ink was uncooperative david of course was poised as ever, bless him for his patience! So for the longer work we brought out the big guns - Bach, followed by Josquin's Missa Linga Pange, which David has been kind enough to lend me. He's also provided me with some interesting films - such as Modigliani - I will never complain about my life again! - and Glenn Gould, 32 Short Films - talented oddballs really are worth knowing! Anyway, the Bach and Josquin seemed to work, though I'm not too sure where the color came from :)

I came across a couple of sketches I had done of David back when the the weather was warmer - he's an interesting guy with interesting lanky poses -

Elinor Royale

2011-10-01T18:16:00.003-03:00

Today was the first session for Richard's life drawing group at the Findlay Centre, and a great kick-off with the Elinor Uberwench as the first model.

Drawing Elinor is always a pleasure - she's amiable, graceful, and relaxed - and today she seemed to have certain je ne sais quoi touching on royal about her today. Plus some new tattoos.

For me, it was pen and ink and gouache. I put a link in because many artists don't seem too familiar with it anymore - to the point where NSCAD doesn't carry the tubed paints and that most wretched of art suppliers des Serres can't be bothered to keep up their open stock. A shame, because it is great for fast sketchbook work. One more thing to order from away...

Anyway here's two from this morning.

Lisa + Books = Something to Draw On

2011-09-30T12:12:00.013-03:00

For the last few weeks Lisa and I have been working outside (both at Point Pleasant, and in my yard), and in the Trident Bookseller and Cafe. What I would like to do is get a series of sketches together for etchings that focus on Lisa, reading and coffee. They seem to go together so well! And it means Lisa can do her work (studying) while I do mine

We had started out in Point Pleasant a few weeks ago - the weather was cloudy, and there was some offshore fog - a typical Nova Scotia day. Which is actually nice to work in, as long as it doesn't rain, and the weather stays warm.

Unfortunately we only had a brief bit before the fog decided it didn't want to stay offshore, and it brought with it rain. Once the ink started running it was time to head for shelter. The odd thing was that it only rained on the very point - the parking lot was dry. So it was off to Trident.

Trident is a great place to work - it's small and intimate, has great coffee, lots of good books, and even a few tables that are not for laptops. And big windows.

A big part of this is just collecting drawings; what ever goes into an etching will be an amalgam of these. So there are lots of little ones (I tend to do quick scrathes in a sanguine sort of colour and corrections in a sort of bistre, using Faber-Castelli india ink felt tips).

The problem with doing interior scenes is that one needs a lot of detail to situate the image. These include quick sketches of customers going about their business:

as well as the general setting:

(to be continued in a week or two...)

Jennifer and David

2011-09-29T10:15:00.006-03:00

Jennifer and David are a couple I've been working with for awhile - with Jennifer somewhat longer than with David - and I am dying to do a double portrait (or a family one), maybe in encaustic, or maybe in oil. The problem is that it can take me forever to actually "see" people, especially when they are lively and fascinating. So in the meantime, I work with them individually.

Jennifer:

David:

My initial ideas for a family portrait run to something like Schiele's:

but not so morose. But it is a classic sort of ordering, echoed in in things like this old milk ad Jennifer sent me:

Hanna At The Piano Redux

2011-09-27T16:09:00.003-03:00

I was going to get back to this about 3 months ago, but it was hard facing the fact I had to grind off most of the etching and re-aquatint....So finally I got up the courage to bite the bullet - or more appropriately bite the plate - there's still lots of room for work (I want to darken the floor and raise the tone in the walls, and add in defining etched lines, for starters) but so far it looks salvageable...

Jenny

2011-09-27T15:31:00.009-03:00

Though as usual I haven't posted much, it's been a busy month. Lots of drawings to - which I hope to catch up on with respect to posting - and back at etching. (And yes, I'm working on Sasha's portrait :) ).

I think this is my favourite picture (so far) of Jenny, who is a delight to work with. Unfortunately (as usual) I spent way too much time on the hair, so ran short on the feet. And someday I will get the details of those tattoos down.

There's a few more, not so good, where I made her look far older than she looks in real life. Interesting how that happens, but I thought I should put them in for completeness..

And of course, one in the red robe. I should start a special collection of these...

Something different.

2011-08-29T19:37:00.005-03:00

Well Hurricane Irene rolled - or should I say meandered weakly - through here. It did trail some great weather in its wake - sunny, warm, and breezy. Like about half of Halifax I headed out to Lawrencetown this morning to see if there was any excitement on the shore. There wasn't much, so I parked myself up at the top of MacDonald Head to sketch in pen and ink (the breeze was a little too strong to break out the gouache, and I wouldn't have wanted to set up an easel for oils).

[The drawing is nib pen & brush, and Sennelier bistre in a little WC notebook]

Years ago a complaint among painters in the Paris countryside was that there seemed to be an easel set up in every corner. These days it's cameras - though I'm not complaining, it's enjoyable to meet & chat with people out enjoying the scenery. The beach itself looked like a camera convention.

BTW - if anyone from the Parks departments reads this - I can understand discouraging swimmers (the currents were pretty strong), but why block off the parking lots? It just means cars get parked along the road, which is hardly safe. Of course they were kind enough to block the entrances to the lots with picnic tables, which were easily moved out of the way. But really, just post "Swim at your own risk" and let Darwin work his magic...

Shawn and Sasha

2011-07-30T14:43:00.004-03:00

Oil on canvas, 24"x36". This one took a lot longer than I expected. So what else is new :). But it has a fair bit of glazing, which has to dry between coats. Thank goodness for patient models.

Jennifer

2011-07-27T23:52:00.007-03:00

Last week, if I remember correctly, was wet outside from the rain the night before, while the studio was an even worse shambles than usual. So we started in the kitchen, shooting the breeze while I worked on quick sketches. This is partly to warm up, partly to test positions for a final, more formal drawing, and mostly to keep pushing me away from the can-of-beans approach to working with lively and interesting people...

At one point Shorty - who is almost always present, trying to edge into the picture in one way or another - caught Jennifer's eye, and that set the basis for the drawing. As usual, I got totally lost in Jennifer's hair - it's wonderful to draw, particularly when backlit.

This week, on the hand, we were back in the studio for more traditional work. I don't know how she holds a pose like this, it would be beyond me. And this time instead of getting lost in Jennifer's hair, I got lost in her hands. (Sorry Jennifer!)

Whoa, two weeks goes fast

2011-07-27T23:39:00.003-03:00

And I haven't even been on holiday. Anyway, before I launch into putting up work from the last two weeks, I'd like to note that there's quite an interesting group show on down at the Craig Gallery, with work by Richard Rudnicki, Susan Tooke, Joy Snihur Wyatt Laking, Susan Paterson, Denise Soper, Laurie Gunn, Margaret Boyle, Bruce Gray, Helen Opie, and Louise Williams. The show focuses on work done out at Long Island (near Five Islands), one of those gorgeous little Nova Scotia spots...

Anyway, back to work.

Jennifer R., Reading Aura

2011-07-13T20:27:00.006-03:00

Wednesday was much nicer than Tuesday - sunshine (most of the time) and temperatures in the mid 20's (mid 70's for the US). Way too nice for working inside. So Jennifer and I sat in shade in the backyard.

The book she's reading is Aura's Erato, which is a wonderful allegory of the act of creation in its different manifestations. And as Jennifer pointed out (and I quite agree), Aura's play with language is quite delightful.

There's a couple of others I did with Jennifer last week, but they aren't finished yet.

Lisa, Not Whistler's Mother

2011-07-13T20:11:00.005-03:00

Tuesday was a wonderful day for reading - wet and cold (and not a whole lot warmer inside). As luck (or more likely, Lisa's foresight) would have it, Lisa had a couple of books wih her. So she settled into my old rocking chair to read by the window, and I to draw. The only thing really missing was a bit of sunshine coming in the window.

Another week goes by....

2011-07-03T19:34:00.008-03:00

At least this time I have a good reason for not posting much, it's been a busy one for drawing! Probably the best way to catch up is just to put them up in the order they were done, all in one post. I try to schedule two to three sessions a week, but this week two new-to-me models became available (Jennifer R. and Aura King); both brought an interest in the arts as well as the history of modeling, so I got to learn a lot.

Monday was with Shawn. Unfortunately the session got cut short somewhat, since I wanted to go over to his place and meet Sasha (his dog). I would like to get to work on a painting including the two of them.

Tuesday was Lisa. If she's looking a little pained, well she was, with a bad crick in her neck. But she was kind enough to sit anyway, and I sort of regret not getting the icepack in. Or a bag of frozen peas....

Wednesday was the first of the new models, Jennifer R. Jennifer is an experienced photographer & model, but I had my usual trouble sorting out drawings with new people. As an added bonus, she lent me the book Alias Olympia, by Eunice Lipton. It's based around Lipton's search for who Victorine Meurent really was. She also provided a link to quite an amusing website for playing with digital photos, BigHugeLabs.

Aura E. King is a writer, dancer, and a well known model in Halifax (especially at NSCAD), who is currently working on a book on classical modeling. I got to pick her brain quite a bit on the history of classical modeling (I had no idea, for example, that for much of history since the Renaissance, modeling was generally the domain of families, much as any other craft..)

And finally on Friday, Jennifer. Maybe it's the fact that I had been drawing all week, or maybe it's the fact that Jenn's a country and western fan (like me), but somehow we managed to get two drawings done, both of which I like.

Elinor UberWench

2011-06-26T17:30:00.005-03:00

If there was a top model category in Halifax, Elinor (T. Crosby) UberWench would probably occupy it. She's very popular with the local life drawing groups (I've run into her at DASL, Richard's, and Dr. Sketchy). Her popularity is understandable; she's graceful, gracious, and totally charming. Plus she's a belly dancer, and a dance instructor (click on the link above for more info).

So it was quite a pleasure to have her modeling for Richard's Saturday group at the Findlay Centre. Especially so in her dance clothing.

Lisa Not in Green

2011-06-26T16:51:00.006-03:00

Friday, Lisa took a really lovely, but difficult, pose. Hard on her to hold (I don't think I could ever tuck into that position, let alone hold it for an hour), and hard to draw, particularly with the slight twist to the head and back. So for me it was good; for her, probably not so much. The result needs reworking (I don't do her or the pose justice), but I think I better wait a session or two before trying it again...

After that was a pose I totally blew (so you don't get to see it), and during a break she curled over to stretch out her back. Being somewhat of an opportunist, and because I love these serendipitous positions, I asked if she'd mind holding it for the position for the last twenty minutes or so. Alas, if there had only been more time!

Lisa in Green

2011-06-22T16:52:00.007-03:00

I worked with Lisa on Tuesday. One of those typical Nova Scotia days that starts bright and sunny and then goes downhill. So we worked in the yard for a couple of hours, and then in the studio.
The morning started off warm enough just to work in light clothes; Lisa reading and drinking coffee, and me sketching and drinking coffee. Coffee is kind of a constant theme around here.

Unfortunately clouds and spitters and a drop in temperature; Lisa braved it out in a hoodie for a little while:

But, even for me, eventually enough is enough, so it was into the studio. I think like many representational artists, I'm a bit of a nut about fabric. Unfortunately, as a pretty traditionally brought up guy, I'm fabrically(?) challenged. So I have no idea what to call it, other than it was sort of a t-shirty material that hung really nicely, was a lovely light pthalo-green color, and a great complement to the wearer...

Standing poses, btw, are really hard, especially when they are slightly off the normal balance. So that one wass definitely above and beyond, and quite a reasonable justification for the last:

Not that the last pose is actually all that easy (try holding your arm up like that for awhile...)

Shawn, Unforgiven

2011-06-22T16:12:00.003-03:00

The title doesn't have anything to do with Shawn directly, he's a great model to work with. Very relaxed and composed. But we did put that movie on during one session.....

It's been awhile since I posted anything (maybe I should be unforgiven for buggering off in nice weather, but I still can't get over an addiction to sunshine); Shawn and I have had two sessions in the interim.

Either of the first two I think could be a good basis for something more formal, probably an oil painting. I'd like to gt back to work in that direction, now that I can work with the windows open. But the prep is always a little daunting. And I do apologize to Shawn for that post-Thanksgiving tummy in the second...

I think on this one, however, the problems just came from getting distracted by the movie. But I do like the area around the left hand.

Jennifer

2011-06-13T14:01:00.006-03:00

Jennifer's another new-to-me model, though she's worked a fair bit for the other side (photographers). It was really interesting talking to her about the difference between the two different forms; I learned a lot. And although they are quite different, she took to the figure work quite naturally. Not an easy task, both gesture work and longer poses are quite at variance with photographic practice.

As for me, I struggled with my usual problems of working with a new model - learning to see someone new as they are, and how to represent them. But the weather at least cooperated - cold and damp outside - which gave me all the excuse I need to crank up the heat and turn on all the lights. I like a cozy & bright place to work. And for a first go, I'm happy with this, and look forward to working with Jennifer again.

Lisa, Writer, Reader

2011-06-09T12:35:00.005-03:00

Yesterday I worked with a "new-to-me" model, Lisa. It was one of those all to rare days here in Nova Scotia - warm, sunny, and just enough breeze to keep the bugs off. So we worked outside.

Most of the time Lisa worked on a short story while I drew. I find this sort of work fascinating; creation often requires isolation, otherwise focus gets lost. Which means that most people never get to quietly observe another person engaged in creative work. I just hope I don't ruin her writing (I can be a chatterer).

Writers have long been the subject of art work - examples include Holbein's great portaits of Erasmus (that's a link to one, there are several), Courbet's portrait of Baudelaire, Manet's portrait Emile Zola, and perhaps even Mary Cassatt's delightful print The Letter.

The big problem of course is that the act of writing is actually pretty dynamic. A subject's thoughts change, the body moves. Someone engaged in thought holds themselves quite differently from someone pouring words out on to a page. It's not an activity in which you can tell the subject to hold still until the buzzer goes! So you collect sketches, good, bad, indifferent and in the end try to to synthesize something. rather like the Hanna at the piano etching (which I am still working on).

So here's a few from the day:

(Note to self - get rid of the Adirondack chairs, they hide half the subject! And buy sunscreen.Around here it's a cheap investment as a bottle lasts for years.)

And of course, after all that work, one needs to relax a bit. Perhaps by reading a book?

Shawn, Changing Gears

2011-06-07T11:23:00.006-03:00

Shawn is quite a gear change for me. Quite tall and with that bicyclist build. I think that comes from being - a bicyclist! But he's all sorts of other things as well, including an experienced model who has worked at NSCAD and the life drawing group down in Mahone Bay.

Those that know me know I change gears very slowly, so apologies to Shawn for not getting all sorts of things right. It usually takes two or three sessions to get work I'm happy with. But he did create some interesting poses, and there are some good things about the drawings that came out, so I'll put them up.

The first longer pose, he just relaxed a bit. We had finished an hour or so of gestures, on top of which he had already worked a full day elsewhere. I've cropped the drawing because I absolutely blew the lower portion - which isn't unusual because of the steep perspective involved. But I quite liked the sense of quiet pensiveness.

The next pose was also interesting, peering surreptitiously through the blinds. Portland St. in Dartmouth usually provides a fair bit of entertainment, what with police traffic and odd goings on. It reminded him of nosey neighbors, and me of a scene from some William Burroughs' novel, especially as it was done at night. Anyway, it was a cool pose that took advantage of the setting, I would have liked to play with it for a couple of hours.

Doggerel

2011-06-05T09:49:00.006-03:00

Well, now I am officially into the old dog status (though don't worry, I have no intention of lying out on the porch doing inappropriate things), it seems cats and dogs are popping up all over the place. One of the models I was interviewing this week mentionned she had a cat, and that it would interesting to incorporate it into a picture. I quite agree, apparently it's better behaved than most, and I do like putting them and dogs into work such as the recent encaustic of Hanna, or this old etching of Mittens

or the encaustic for (Miss Molotov) Marissa's gallery 5 years ago (IIRC):

And today I came across a great poem by Charles Bukowski, which might be fun to try and illustrate:

wearing the collar

I live with a lady and four cats
and some days we all get
along.

some days I have trouble with
one of the
cats.

other days I have trouble with
two of the
cats.

other days,
three.

some days I have trouble with
all four of the
cats

and the
lady:

ten eyes looking at me
as if I was a dog.

But of course I might have to then answer it by illustrating a poem I like even better, "Dog", by Lawrence Ferlinghetti :


The dog trots freely in the street
and sees reality
and the things he sees
are bigger than himself
and the things he sees
are his reality
Drunks in doorways
Moons on trees
The dog trots freely thru the street
and the things he sees
are smaller than himself
Fish on newsprint
Ants in holes
Chickens in Chinatown windows
their heads a block away
The dog trots freely in the street
and the things he smells
smell something like himself
The dog trots freely in the street
past puddles and babies
cats and cigars
poolrooms and policemen
He doesn't hate cops
He merely has no use for them
and he goes past them
and past the dead cows hung up whole
in front of the San Francisco Meat Market
He would rather eat a tender cow
than a tough policeman
though either might do
And he goes past the Romeo Ravioli Factory
and past Coit's Tower
and past Congressman Doyle of the Unamerican Committee
He's afraid of Coit's Tower
but he's not afraid of Congressman Doyle
although what he hears is very discouraging
very depressing
very absurd
to a sad young dog like himself
to a serious dog like himself
But he has his own free world to live in
His own fleas to eat
He will not be muzzled
Congressman Doyle is just another
fire hydrant
to him
The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog's life to live
and to think about
and to reflect upon
touching and tasting and testing everything
investigating everything
without benefit of perjury
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
and a real tail to tell it with
a real live
    barking
    democratic dog
engaged in real
  free enterprise
with something to say
           about ontology
something to say
  about reality
           and how to see it
           and how to hear it
with his head cocked sideways
           at streetcorners
as if he is just about to have
     his picture taken
                  for Victor Records
           listening for
    His Master's Voice
 and looking
         like a living questionmark
           into the
                  great gramophone
              of puzzling existence
           with its wondrous hollow horn
       which always seems
               just about to spout forth
            some Victorious answer
         to everything

Hanna, Waxed

2011-06-01T16:17:00.004-03:00

This one is finally done. It's 24x36, encaustic on panel. I don't think I'll try to sell this one, but if anyone wants a poster size print (roughly 13"x19") let me know.
Now on to the etchings....

Elizabeth and other things...

2011-05-30T17:21:00.008-03:00

The sun's shining (finally!), Fats Waller is on the CD, and I sit at my desk working on redrawing the sketches of Elizabeth from Saturday, reworking the etching plate of Hanna at the piano, and watching the neighborhood kids building a fort out of knotweed stalks, and life's pretty good.

Anyway, here's some quick sketches from Saturday (complete with notes to myself, what a mess). Elizabeth is a new model to Richard's drawing group. Very quiet, graceful, and poised. I don't know if I'll do anything formal with them, though with her fine lines, formal carriage, and the mixture of sharp highlights and strong tones of the day, I really wish I had the patience a to do mezzotint. Maybe in the next lifetime!

As for the etchng plate, there's things I really like about it, and things I don't, which is a much worse position than when you really like a thing completely, or hate it altogether. I'm not a master of decisive action, so I'll probably just wind up redrawing it from scratch...

Future plans, models wanted

2011-05-29T12:50:00.006-03:00

Now that Hanna has moved on, I am looking for a new model or two to work with in the Halifax area. [The rest of this post has been moved to the Help Wanted page linked over on the right]
Ahh, the lost post is back....

Hanna, thanks!

2011-05-29T01:05:00.004-03:00

Hanna, the model I have been working with for the last several months, is moving on. It's a sad day - it brings to an end this part of the project - and yet a good one as well, since whenever a friend decides to spread their wings a little wider one can only feel glad.

Too often the contribution of great models is overlooked, particularly by those of us who wish to go beyond painting the figure as a can of beans and into portraying the person. Not the person as the photograph might snap it, not the person as some abstract floaty splooged object, but the person as a living, vibrant, human being as one sees her. I remember Hanna commenting on one of Schiele's better pictures that she felt - despite the abstractness of it - that it was as if the subject was there, just on the other side of the paper. Like Goya's caption, "I saw this." I think we should aim no lower.

But it takes a very brave model to engage in this sort of task; there's a lot more on display than just skin, light, or academic forms. It is in a sense exposure to the world of an intensely personal core; even clothed, the model is far more naked than the classical nude. And the difficulty is much more for the model than for the artist, the very worst I can do is display some drawing or painting errors.

For myself, these last few months have been a great period for artistic growth for which I owe Hanna a real debt of gratitude. I think of it especially when drawing others, like my neighbor's son, or the model we had this morning. Though it's time to move on, there's lots of good stuff that remains.

There will be a few more Hanna pictures; during the last six weeks in particular, when we were working together four or five days a week, I've built up an enormous backlog of rough sketches and drawings. And there's still two on the easel to finish.

But she'll still be missed. Even by Shorty (though he'll be glad to have his couch back, and he definitely won't miss the brushing).

Quick note

2011-05-28T13:32:00.002-03:00

If you are having trouble logging into blogger, try clearing your cache and history. This worked for me, but apparently not for everybody. The lost posts and edits though are still not back.

Interesting times....

2011-05-26T13:16:00.004-03:00

Well, first Blogger loses edited versions of posts, and now the login has been broken for a few days. But scanning through their chat board, some - not all - noted that they could login using different browsers. So I tried Chrome (I usually use IE, bad habits die hard), and here I am. The lost posts though have not been restored, although the powers-that-be put up notices that it's all back (when they bother to put up notifications at all). This sort of repeated idiocy usually indicates bad management practice, if I had any Google stock, I'd consider unloading it.

Enough ranting :) It's been a busy time with nothing to post for it, though it certainly has been an educational! I took the same image as the litho, and decided to try doing it intaglio to see if I could make the background more settled while bringing out more liveliness in Hanna's figure. The line etching went well, though I should have feathered it more, and I adjusted some of the perspective lines to bring the image more into focus:

But from there on in, with the aquatint, disaster! C'est la vie. So once I recover (sob), I'll give it another shot with another plate...

Meanwhile, we've started on illustrating another one of Hanna's poems, Parasite Worms. Right now it's in the sketch stage (so it may go out the window altogether), but the idea is to try and incorporate the poem and a dreamlike figure into one large encaustic (36x36). Lettering in encaustic is a bitch, and it's been awhile since I've done figures from imagination. Should be interesting. But like Picasso said, "I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." Words to live by.

Speaking of poetry, in case there's anyone reading this from the Halifax area, the show Dan O'Neill is curating over at the Dal Arts Center opens tonight. The full blurb is here, scroll down to the "Second Impressions" listing. The show comprises lithos by Motherwell and de Kooning with poetry by Frank O'Hara and Octavio Paz. Which of course allows me to close with one of my favourite O'Hara poems:

Why I Am Not A Painter

I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,

for instance, Mike Goldberg
is starting a painting. I drop in.
"Sit down and have a drink" he
says. I drink; we drink. I look
up. "You have SARDINES in it."
"Yes, it needed something there."
"Oh." I go and the days go by
and I drop in again. The painting
is going on, and I go, and the days
go by. I drop in. The painting is
finished. "Where's SARDINES?"
All that's left is just
letters, "It was too much," Mike says.

But me? One day I am thinking of
a color: orange. I write a line
about orange. Pretty soon it is a
whole page of words, not lines.
Then another page. There should be
so much more, not of orange, of
words, of how terrible orange is
and life. Days go by. It is even in
prose, I am a real poet. My poem
is finished and I haven't mentioned
orange yet. It's twelve poems, I call
it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery
I see Mike's painting, called SARDINES.

Hanna at the Piano

2011-05-18T04:52:00.002-03:00

A few more piano pieces today, featuring selections from Chopin and Satie. Very good music to draw to! I hope to turn some of these into etchings or perhaps gouache, and I'll try one or two in the litho workshop this weekend...The lighting is going to be interesting to capture, as the piano faces into a corner with tall windows on either side.

Hanna playing Chopin's Nocturne 9-2:

A couple of Saties ( Satie gives strict yet ambigious advice - play the pieces in a manner "don't leave", "ligtly, with intimacy", "don't be proud", "dont eat too much", and "cooked". Hopefully we managed to convey this advice within the music, and also the sketches. What that would mean, I do not know):

This last one happened after we wrapped up, Hanna was putting on some makeup in the full length mirrors...

Hanna, Cooked

2011-05-15T17:41:00.004-03:00

Well those of you who didn't read the last blog post before Blogger crashed and lost a bunch of stuff on Wednesday won't understand the title! Maybe they'll get it back, but in the meantime, tant pis, and do yer homework, and go practice Satie.

The next picture is of my first semi-decent litho, done Friday and Saturday at the Mahone Bay Arts Centre. Thanks Dan O'Neill for teaching the workshop, and thanks Sally Warren for doing such a great job organizing it.

There are a number of things I would like to change about it, though I like the basic design. For example, I would like to add more weight to the piano and bench so that their solidity would provide a stronger support for Hanna's intensely focussed liveliness. Unfortunately the ball grain aluminum plate lithography doesn't make that sort of change very easy, so perhaps we can redo it in an etching of roughly the same image size. (The image is about 9 1/2 by 12 1/2 inches, this one is done on Rives BFK)

The other current project nearing completion is this one:

There's still work to do on it, but it is coming along. Hanna suggested I strengthen the figures in the background, and add something to do with water, both of which seem to have helped a lot. One of the irritating things about encaustic from the photographic POV (though wonderful from the real life POV) is how variable they are under different light. It varies a lot from one day's photos to the next. I guess if you really want to see what it looks like, you should buy it. Or drop in sometime.

Hanna at the Piano

2011-05-11T18:27:00.004-03:00

Hanna at the Piano and Other things

2011-05-09T23:23:00.003-03:00

An interesting morning, with Hanna working on her poetry, and then piano. She brought along a couple of flyers from the Open Heart Forgery - a monthly poetry publication that's definitely worth looking into (just click on the link and download some free stuff!). They'd like visitors to download their current PDF, print off a few copies, and drop them off wherever you might like. Pretty cool....

As for me, it was the usual Monday morning, slow getting going. Must be those wild weekends. But there are a few drawings that aren't too bad, one from the piano, several in the kitchen.

While I was drawing Hanna at the piano it struck me that something other artists must like are all those reflective surfaces (the piano, a mid 20C Knabe baby grand, is black and polished). If one of these piano pieces goes to a painting it's going to be, uh, fun?

Then a couple in the kitchen as we wind up the session, the first thinking about something....

and changing the song on the laptop...

Finally, how I really spent my weekend - still lots to do - the drawings in the upper part were taken from sketches at Halifax's famous South End Diner (Google street view). Except the odd looking bird. That's taken from Gauguin's Nevermore

My Useless Studio Assistant....

2011-05-07T10:12:00.006-03:00

...thinks he can cut it as a model, while I pick fur out of the encaustic. Or maybe he's just trying to reclaim the couch. Maybe that sort of snootiness comes from watching the recent royal wedding. He is elegant in his own way, I suppose....

Updated ...

the idea of Shorty relaxing by someone's feet is really pretty amusing...

Hanna at the Piano

2011-05-05T21:06:00.006-03:00

Guess there hasn't been much posting lately! We've been busy on an encaustic which is taking absolutely forever (it's posted below). The encaustic will take a while to finish - lots to do on the background - so we're moving on.

Personally, I love genre work (basically people in everyday activities, though often pushed in the direction of homilies, from the entertaining Jan Steen to the somewhat stuffy - but beautifully done - Broken Pitcher by Bougeureau).

But for some reason there seems to be a special place in art for people playing the piano, and related instruments. Vermeer's Music Lesson and Lady Seated at a Virginal (Pollock fans should take a close look at the decorations on the instrument!), Matisse's Piano Lesson and Music Lesson, Renoir's Yvonne and Christine, van Gogh's Mademoiselle Gachet at the Piano or even Degas's Monsieur and Madame Manet (the piano got cut out) are all pretty typical examples. Why it should be such a popular theme is intriguing; perhaps it's because the sitter, if absorbed in playing, is no longer aware of the artist. Or maybe the use of muscles, motion, and focus is just really interesting.

So we relaxed for awhile today, Hanna played piano while I drew. A little rough for her with her right hand in a cast. The piece is Chopin's Nocturne 9-2. (Alas, my sound card is dead, you'll have to take your pick)

And this is the current state of the encaustic. So much work left to do! Maybe a little better planning is in order....

Hanna Bent Not Broken

2011-04-26T21:33:00.007-03:00

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day drawing-wise, though not as bad as I thought. Perhaps salvageable! And today started out with some difficulty, but for a change improved as the session went on. Kind of like Nova Scotia weather...

We are currently working at creating another encaustic. We tried first working from her her feet, looking up (another failure), and then from her head - this one has possibilities. There's still a lot of fiddly things to do like reducing the curve on the upper back (but not so much that the raven tattoo gets lost), settling her face into the blankets, softening the robe, etc. But that's all probably best left to the painting stage.

There's a line down the drawing about 1/3 of the way in from the left. That's because I am used to working on 2x3 foot vertical drawings, and have trouble with horizontal formats. Can't think sideways! So I started with a vertical format, and thought I could leave out the legs & feet. But on the vertical format the drawing was just too incomplete, so we turned the support over and stuck the first drawing on the end, creating another foot for the feet.

But what to do about the background? Perhaps some verticals, and a raven.

Hanna Broken and Sublime

2011-04-20T17:26:00.000-03:00

I've been off for a few days, dring to get this one done. It was supposed to just take a day or two! The best laid plans....
Encaustic on canvas, 24x36

Quite an enjoyable exercise. Hanna had been curious about encaustics; so we took advantage of her broken wrist (which has been keeping her off her regular job) to pile into this one. It's been a number of years since I did a large one, and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is. Much more pleasant than oils! An added bonus was listening to her collection of music (we've run through most of mine), which included a new-to-me group called Sublime. When she first mentionned them, I thought someone was setting Edmund Burke to music? I have sort of a disconnect from modern culture, I guess....

Hanna Broken II

2011-04-16T18:17:00.001-03:00

We've decided to give encaustics a try - it's been several years since I did one. But the first order of business is to get a sketch together, which is here:

It's even sketchier than usual, and there's a lot of odds and ends (like the left arm) that need to be corrected at the start of the encaustics stage. But it's hard resist the perfume of damar and beeswax....

Hanna Broken

2011-04-13T11:53:00.000-03:00

I quite enjoy just sitting and sketching people in daily activities. Airports, restaurants, skateboard parks, and city parks during lunch time are great for this, though it is not always appreciated (especially in airports). I love the unpredictability of it, especially in pan and ink, where you have to live with all your mistakes (and try to get something durable out of the uncertainty).

So yesterday I got - at least for me - a lucky break. Hanna had badly fractured her wrist on Sunday practicing for roller derby; the discomfort plus the pain killers put any posing at all out of the question. Plus to reduce the swelling, her wrist had to be kept elevated. The second lucky break was that it was spectacularly warm & sunny for mid-April here in Nova Scotia (though rather windy). So we lounged around the backyard, chatted, and I got to do pages of (real) life drawing.

Hanna, Shorty, and Nietzsche

2011-04-09T21:03:00.000-03:00

I always have trouble with horizontal format work, I seem to think better vertically. Yesterday was no exception, but it wasn't helped by the fact that my Corgi wanted to get in on the picture.

Hanna created quite a sensual and relaxed pose, and Shorty seemed quite content at the far end, down by her feet. Then things started going wrong.

The first mistake was just in the way I set up my easel. I often work from the floor; it puts me at roughly eye level with, or slightly below, the model, which creates a more intimate and less formal atmosphere. But no, this time I worked from a standard height. The second was setting up nearly perpendicular to her axis, which kills any major foreshortening - again creating a more distant feel. This quite appropriate for those who like to concentrate on artistic form (all the visual stuff that hits your eye - like line, colour, dimension, etc. - but not necessarily your imagination - like who is this person?). And finally, I didn't shoo the dog off...

About halfway into laying out the drawing, Shorty decided he really didn't like being near feet. (That's the result of a deeply rooted complex left over from a certain someone who has been exiled to BC to while away his time surfing, snowboarding, and living with a Border Collie :)) So Shorty climbed into the middle of the picture. He seemed to settle down, so I figured I could deal with that. But once that got rolling, he decided he was going to shift around and find a better pose, and then after that, well maybe something on the floor was actually more interesting.

Long and short, the result was rather unfinished, and I picked away at it today, before tossing in the towel.

So what's this have to do with Nietzsche? It started with an article I read over coffee this morning, called Bored With Modernism. It's actually an interesting article, and I am pretty sympathetic to his point of view, particularly the identification of a problem in art. But what got me was the art that he includes in a positive sense; it's all very concerned with form, including gesture. Not that the work isn't beautiful! But it is the formal qualities which seemed to count most.

And later today, still picking away at this picture, I stopped for awhile to browse through a Nietzsche reader that Hanna had leant me, and I came across section 59 of "Beyond Good and Evil". It's a bit of a diatribe about forms and morals vs risk and exploration, and takes a humorous jab at retreating to form rather than grabbing at what lies under the surface...

Here and there one finds a passionate and exaggerated adoration of "pure forms" in philosophers as well as in artists: it is not to be doubted that whoever has NEED of the cult of the superficial to that extent, has at one time or another made an unlucky dive BENEATH it. Perhaps there is even an order of rank with respect to those burnt children, the born artists who find the enjoyment of life only in trying to FALSIFY its image (as if taking wearisome revenge on it), one might guess to what degree life has disgusted them, by the extent to which they wish to see its image falsified, attenuated, ultrified, and deified, ...

So I figure Shorty was doing his best equivalent of Lassie's "Timmy's in the well" routine, but channeling Nietzsche instead. And if I got a bit of a cartoon rather than something better, well, at least I learned something. So an extra biscuit for the dog...

Hanna in Lavender

2011-04-06T11:06:00.000-03:00

We started the session out with quick sketching and lots of coffee. It's an interesting exercise, trying to capture a figure while carrying on a conversation (no posing allowed!). Drawing in the immediacy of life is an old tradition in the arts, particularly before photography; one of my favourites is Rembrandt's Old Woman and Child with Leading Strings. Try posing that! But when it comes to capturing life, he's always been my touchstone. (There are lots of other drawings of his over here, including his wonderful Lion and his quick take on a Nurse and Child.)

Well, I'm no Rembrandt, but that doesn't mean I can't take some of the same delight in just drawing quickly and responsively to whatever is going on. And like Picasso put it,"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

So here's a couple from the warmups:

This is my favourite, though I made Shorty look way too small, and sort of fierce rather than totally moony...But if he won't sit still, that's his problem.

Then back to the studio for proper work. Hanna was quite taken with some of the NuPastels I picked up at NSCAD on Monday, so after blowing one drawing (colour-wise, palette-wise, placement-wise) I suggesested she pick the basic colours for the next try. One of which was a lavender I had never tried before; given my staid and conservative drawing style, another train wreck loomed. But it turned out ok, even if I didn't have a proper Easter egg (jellybean) blue for the fingernails. Must have been the pose.

Pen and Ink

2011-04-06T10:22:00.000-03:00

Saturday the model didn't show for the life drawing group (these things happen), so some of us took turns. On the one hand, this was a little hard ( though the sitting pose I took was ok, I made the mistake of taking a standing one as well. You can drink the night before, or you can stand the next day, but you can't do both, at least without some pain...). On the other hand, it was great to start ramping up for spring and summer, when I like sketching people in and around Halifax (more on this in another post). Anyway, here's Richard in a three minute and a twenty minute pose...

Tender Crows, Cheesecake Corgi...

2011-04-06T09:55:00.001-03:00

I was shooting some drawings this morning, and when I unloaded the shots I found some photos taken earlier in the week - the crow couple that hangs around (who are usually pretty rough) cooing and flirting to each other, and Shorty looking rather debonair. Must be something in the air.

Hanna, Post-Modern Olympia

2011-04-02T16:46:00.000-03:00

Perhaps one of the greatest privileges of working with a single model over a period of time (we've been at this now for about two months) is the way it helps me see Hanna as a complex human being. One would think that drawing the same person repeatedly would make the task easier, and yet I find it harder; one becomes aware of the subtle shifts from self-possession to pensiveness, from inner certainty to the young poet who could write:

You never asked me to think of you, but I disobeyed.

(It's from one of my favourite poems of hers, written several years ago I think, but I haven't put it up yet).

Alas my eye is still quicker than the hand, but it slowly gets better.

The first of these was done last week; it's a retake of one we did about ten days ago, but I rather messed up the drawing. I really liked the pose, what with the arm resting on the cushions and the hand floating above the shoulder, and asked Hanna to repeat it. (She usually takes her own poses).

This one was done at the same time as the original for the one above. The photo seems fuzzy because the drawing was; by the time I got around to sharpening it I though better of doing so.

This last was a quick sketch, we had almost run out of time. Lots of drawing errors, but then again, there's nothing like a shortage time combined with tiredness to force one to loosen up a bit, and just focus on capturing a sense of what one sees. Which is maybe why I like it best.

All work is on 24"x36" Kraft paper, using Nupastel.

Hanna, The Embittered Poem

2011-04-01T15:56:00.000-03:00

I have been slow in putting this poem of Hanna's up, partly just for technical reasons, but mostly because on first reading it is visceral, immediate, and personal. Who hasn't experienced one side or the other of destructive control? For that reason alone it is worth reading, because it takes a good deal of courage to question that aspect of one's personality (as victim or victimizer).

But I think it also needs to be read on other levels, such as in the sense of what a disappointed, accusatory lover might project on the writer. And at a positive level, I read it in the sense of bemused detachment that comes from self awareness.

Which is it? I don't know; but good poetry leaves these questions open.

(You might have to click on the image to get a readable version. I haven't typed in the poem, because I like the effect of the handwriting, to the point of reproducing the paper bag versions below. They can also be expanded by clicking on them. As with other work on this site, high resolution poster versions up to 13"x19" are available)

Playing Hookey (Again)

2011-03-31T16:30:00.000-03:00

Ok, I should be in the studio, but a warm sunny day in Nova Scotia in March is too precious to waste working, especially with bad weather promised for the next few days. So it was off to Duncan's Cove, where I hadn't been for maybe a decade.

The village itself is ratehr interesting - aside from the tasteless white monstrosity built out of an old WWII coastal defence tower (not shown, it really is absurd looking) - which consists of mostly older houses rebuilt in a variety of styles.

The view down the shore towards Ketch Harbour has that windswept barren sense more typical of Newfoundland than this lush (haha) province...

The trail is cut with gorges, which makes it rather unsuitable for children & old pets like Shorty:

There are also left over emplacements from WWII ( the little rectangle on the far left). I can't begin to imagine how miserable it must have been to be posted to these - open as they were to the weather.

And of course it's a great place to meet new friends, like Digby (who apparently owns a marine biologist/scientific editor...)

Hanna, Unfortunate Wit

2011-03-29T13:00:00.000-03:00

We have started putting together the poetry and drawings, if anyone wants one, let me know, they are giclee using Epson inks (we can print them currently up to 13"x19"). We start with a simple black and white, with a poem of hanna's I quite like...

Speaking of Poetry...

2011-03-29T12:36:00.000-03:00

One of the places I like to go when troubled - and even when not - is Whitman, particularly his Song of Myself. It is a marvelous, expansive celebration of life in all its difficult contradictions summed up in the well known lines of verse 51:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

And then you get to a certain age, and other parts such as this (from verse 52) come into focus:

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

Poetry, Art, and Odds & Ends

2011-03-29T09:52:00.000-03:00

One of the reasons I like working with Hanna is that she brings many talents to this collaboration. One of those is poetry.

Drawing is often referred to as the "poetry of art"; I think there is also some truth in the converse: that poetry is the art of literature. It is written thought boiled down to its essentials. Like drawing, it is the simplest, most unadorned statement of fundamental beliefs about the world. When you read the work of an honest poet, just as when you look at an honest drawing, you are getting a glimpse of a very unprotected part of the creator's heart.

There's many forms of poetry, just as there are many forms of drawing. Some like elegance, some like meter & rhyme and formal construction; some like grand themes and some like looking at a blade of grass. It's all good, as long as it is honest.

Hanna has been brave enough to share some of her work with me; one of the surprises (though I guess it shouldn't be) is that her approach to writing is similar in many ways as mine to art; it's a reaction to, and an exploration of, experience. It's an attempt to grasp some little corner of beauty and understanding (and for me, real beauty is subjective, and comes through understanding) in a chaotic and often incomprehensible world.

So I have asked Hanna if I could illustrate some of her poems, and she has agreed. One of the things I have always liked is the combination of text and image into a single art form. In the ones I will be putting up(they are still in process) I work directly with her hand-written poetry - complete with crossings-out and rewriting; I find they work well with my drawings, complete with their erasures and re-drawings. You can't explore unless you are willing to take risks, and taking risks means falling down at times. But as Paula Smith (who suffered through several years of trying to teach me piano) used to tell me, "You have got to learn to play through your mistakes."

Hanna Poetess

2011-03-24T16:26:00.000-03:00

I worked up these charcoal sketches (alas, on newsprint) from photos for practice, but liked the result, particularly the first.

David Redux

2011-03-24T16:00:00.000-03:00

Pushing the expressionism a bit (sorry David!)...

Hanna Elsewhere

2011-03-19T15:46:00.000-03:00

I went to the (roughly) biweekly drawing session run by Richard Rudnicki this morning at the Findlay Centre, and guess who the model was. Lots of new faces among the LDers, it's great to see renewed interest in life drawing in the area.

It's quite a different drawing in such a setting (compared with my tiny but much less formal studio) - especially working perhaps 10-12 feet from the model, rather than 5 or 6. But it's all good (the drawings, not so much).

After the gestures, Hanna took a seated, pretty formal pose. It's actually quite a difficult one to hold, and she did it well. But I wanted to concentrate on her face, which I have a hard time drawing.

The first view is from roughly her level:

but I made her face too squat. So I next moved down to working from the floor ( which I really like doing).

So now her face comes out too narrow. Somewhere there's a happy medium!

Both drawings are NuPastel on 24"x36", but I have cut them down to square to save pixels.

Hanna Imperatrix

2011-03-17T17:58:00.000-03:00

Some days just bring home how important the model is in figure work, and yesterday was one of them. Especially when one want to work not on the body as a design (i.e. a can of beans) but to visually understand and express the subject as a person. I think it's harder work for the model than the artist; the model after all has to take a relatively fleeting sensibility, form a pose around it, and then maintain it for a significant length of time - at least long enough for the slow work of the pastel.

But more difficult, I think, is that the model, when working like this, exposes much more than just their bits and pieces. We all have them and know what they look like, after all. But a great model is able to bring out her (or his) interior life, which few of us ever display openly, because it leaves us quite vulnerable. It's not unusual to find - at least in my generation - Prufrocks with an attitude that this is somehow immoral (or worse, those who doltishly snicker) - but apparently the feeling that this is indeed a brave act is more common among Hanna's friends. My vote is decidely with the younger crowd.

I stumbled across a Nietzsche quote the other day - that the basis of great art is gratitude. Now this isn't great art, but the same basis is there. Gratitude for all sorts of things - from being able to work with a great model to just being able to do this at all. And (of course) gratitude for those of you who have stopped by.

Anyway, enough words. The images from yesterday follow, they are all 24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper. They follow in the order in which they were done, pretty much in the way in which they were drawn. Fixes and formalization will come later. Which reminds me, re. the drawing method - I don't measure much (obviously) and I pick the colours somewhat intuitively. The idea is to try and keep it simple, to try and keep it free. And maybe with a little luck, come down where we ought to be.

Hanna started the session off a little tired and frazzled from another job, and settled into a relaxed, almost meditative pose.

Then something more languid and sensuous:

And finally, Hanna Imperatrix. I really wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that glare.

Hannan Exercises

2011-03-13T17:49:00.000-03:00

Once again, it's back to drawing from photos to get my hand back under control. Like the Hanon Exercises for piano, the practice might be of dubious benefit, and it might not. The point is to have a little fun while building speed and accuracy.

We shot the photos during the drawing session Thursday, and I spent Friday & Saturday practicing. Today was supposed to be another practice day, but with sunshine & shirt sleeve weather in Nova Scotia - in March, no less! - well, self-indulgence won.

The drawings themselves take about 20 to 30 minutes. Ideally that should get down to 5 or ten. Still a ways to go. But it's a definite improvement from the time it used to take.

David

2011-03-08T15:57:00.000-04:00

Monday Hanna and I worked on a really challenging pose - an awkward angle, lots of foreshortening - and I'm not going to put up anything until the drawings move beyond looking like a pile of tangled sausages.

But Monday night is time for drawing sessions DASL; this time with a new model, and a chance to relax...

Sometimes the best part of art

2011-03-08T14:14:00.000-04:00

isn't the painting....

Hanna on the Phone

2011-03-04T16:10:00.000-04:00

Hanna (alas) isn't available until Monday, so I'm taking a little time to start redoing sketches. This one is derived from the one put up two days ago; I quite liked the pose.

24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper.

While I had the camera out, I thought to reshoot the Hanna Prone (below). That one was taken at night, and I found the colour a little washed out. So here it is again:

Hello Ricocheteers!

2011-03-02T18:30:00.000-04:00

Or whatever we members over at Ricochet are supposed to call ourselves...I'll put on the coffee...

Hanna Over the Edge

2011-03-02T12:04:00.000-04:00

The studio was cold again on Tuesday, so Hanna worked in a robe. She takes fascinating poses - she (generally) chooses the pose, and I the position to draw from. This one just seemed so organic and natural, it was a pleasure to work from.

Occasionally I ask her for a specific pose - this one is based on something that happened last week, when she took a call during one of the breaks to schedule a modelling session. (And yes, she does model for others, if you are an artist in the Halifax area looking for a great professional model, drop me a line and I'll pass the info along). While she was on the phone & busily writing in her agenda, I kept wishing I hadn't left my drawing tools in the studio. So I asked her if she could try repeating the pose, which is obviously (physically) difficult, what with the unbalanced weight and the pressure on her neck. She was able to do it long enough for me to get a quick sketch down (while she was actually drawing my feet....)

Both drawings are 24"x36", Nupastel on Kraft Paper.

Hanna Prone (and other things)

2011-02-28T22:44:00.000-04:00

A great weekend down at the Mahone Bay Center, learning the basics of lithography. Thanks Dan O'Neill (who ran the workshop, and who made an enormously complicated subject comprehensible with a minimum of pain), Ed Porter (who kept things moving), and especially Sally Warren who organized it. As well as the rest of the print group there, who were very generous to a Halifax based interloper.

Hanna and I spent spent most of the afternoon today on a technical drawing which is rather dull, but something I had to work through, after having butchered the same pose on several previous sessions. She's amazingly patient. Maybe now I can actually do something interesting with it!

But the last hour or so was something livelier. The lighting is a bit odd because we arranged the spots for heat rather than visual effect, it was getting chilly in the studio. But they gave lots of interesting little highlights.

24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper:

Hanna 2-for-1

2011-02-25T16:21:00.001-04:00

I've just gotten around to photographing the work Hanna and I have done this week; most of the work needs to be extensively redone. There's good weeks and bad! Unfortunately I won't be able to get back to these on the weekend, as I'm off to the lithography workshop at the Mahone Bay Center. How can Mahone Bay volunteers organize these things so well, and NSCAD can't at all?

These 2 drawings - which I rather like - were done Monday and Tuesday; the first was done with Hanna on Monday; the second is a reworking from the first. I did the second to correct drawing errors in the first and try and settle it down a bit, but in many ways I prefer the first (particularly Hanna's expression, and the looseness of the drawing).

Both are 24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper.

Off to the Beach

2011-02-24T22:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, I haven't updated this in a week, that's very bad. To make matters worse, today was far too nice to spend the afternoon in the studio. So after a morning of destroying yet another drawing, it was off to the beach. Tomorrow I'll put up some of the newer drawings, and maybe a bit on the Freeman Dyson article, which was very much worth a read. Or maybe a little on Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality (thanks, Hanna!) and this article from Reason: People Who Live in the Shade. But meanwhile, an afternoon at Conrad's!

My best walking partner (as long as we don't meet any other dogs...)

Hanna Precarious Redux

2011-02-17T16:28:00.000-04:00

Spent awhile today tarting it up....No model, but lots of sunlight.

Hanna Precarious

2011-02-16T17:52:00.001-04:00

This was a beautiful day for drawing, with tons of sunshine filtering in through the blinds. Unfortunately because the studio room faces south, the light raced from one end of the couch to the other during the pose this afternoon. I probably should have worked faster and done three or four!

NuPastel on Kraft paper, 24"x36"

Hanna, a double session Monday

2011-02-15T22:56:00.000-04:00

Monday is a long day; we worked together for the afternoon, and then Hanna modeled for the DASL night class. That left lots of drawings to work through today.

All work is NuPastel n 24"x36" Kraft paper.

This first is from the afternoon session.

The next two were the long poses from the DASL class, a half hour each.

This first one is missing the support behind her head, alas I got lost on Hanna's legs and only had time to sketch in where it should go....

We had been working on foreshortening during the afternoon, so this next position was pretty irresistible, what with things poking up everywhere. My favorite part is the little bit of fingers showing just above the breast, between the legs. The harsh light also lent itself to abstracting the figure; Tony-my-neighbor called it a Group of 7 knockoff :)

Hanna Distracted

2011-02-13T14:12:00.000-04:00

This is the last from the Wednesday & Thursday sessions (or at least the last salvageable one). Though the drawing is a little hasty, I quite like the pose, Hanna was engaged with some pictures up on the wall, and not too concerned about forcing a pose. Could be interesting to extend the picture to the left, and put in an Olympia, or Venus of Urbino, or the central part of Courbet's Artist's Studio

Hanna and Shorty

2011-02-12T13:14:00.001-04:00

Shorty does not approve of people sitting on his couch. But he can be bought off cheap!

24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft Paper.

Hanna

2011-02-11T11:49:00.000-04:00

The collaboration with Hanna continues; we spent Wednesday & Thursday on these (and some others). Working with a single professional model over an extended period is very rewarding; it allows more experimentation (and yes, more mistakes!) but at the same time is more particular. For me this is important, as we move away from the traditional notion of the figure - as pretty much a design (i.e. a flower pot would do just as well), or simple eye candy - and towards something closer to portraiture, but of the full and complete individual.

These are all 24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper; the poses were 10-30 minutes.

Hanna

2011-02-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

There's times when even I realize I have to dial back my loose drawing tendencies - even to the extent of doing Very Bad Things, like drawing from photos. But one must be willing to suffer for art!

Pencil on 11x14 Canson 65lb Sketch pad.

Katie, Steve

2011-02-08T16:10:00.000-04:00

Saturday was the Findlay Center Drawing Group run by Richard Rudnicki; Monday was at the DASL life drawing sessions with Jane Schlosberg.
The model for the first was Katie (11x14, pencil on a Canson sketch pad):

This one took about half an hour, though it could have used a much longer time. I always find getting started on a Saturday morning such slow going!

Monday night, Steve posed again.. I find him very interesting to draw, particularly as he has a quite gentle presence and really carved body. Intriguing, but difficult to combine the two.

These are NuPastel on 24"x36" Kraft paper. The first two were 15 minute poses, the third was 35 minutes.

More Hanna

2011-02-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

Hanna is sick today, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on posting.

These are all 24"x36" on Kraft paper, using NuPastel. They are pretty quick studies - usually the order of 20-40 minutes. We've been doing 4 hour work periods maybe twice a week, broken into a series of 20 minute session - generally repetions/variations of the same pose. They were done in various sessions over the last two weeks.

The studies themselves are preliminary to more finished work, which I hope to start once the weather is warm enough to open the windows. Using turps & linseed oil this time of year is not a great idea! But it gives me a chance to get to know the model in more depth than usual. It also (I hope) gives the model the chance to both be comfortable, and contribute to the work.

Peter

2011-01-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

This is one that has been hanging around since last year, which I forgot to put up....The drawing is a bit awkward, but I quite like the colour.

24x36. NuPastel on Kraft paper.

Hanna Take 2

2011-01-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

A little too far to the expressionist side perhaps, but it's a start. NuPastel on Kraft paper, 24x36.

Richard

2011-01-22T14:28:00.001-04:00

No model this morning! Seems to be the flu. So we got the artists who arranges the sessions instead. (For his work, please see: Richard Rudnicki )
These are all pencil on 12x12 Canson drawing pad paper.

Hanna

2011-01-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

Pencil on Canson sketchpad, 14x17 (this has been cut down a bit). A rough 3 hour session, this took the last 40 minutes, and was about the only presentable sketch. (I really hate it when one has a good model, good light, and nothing works).

She was a lovely model, and I hope to be working with her in the future.

MacDonald Head, November and December

2011-01-20T03:38:00.000-04:00

In late November and early December, we had three or four Mondays in a row that brought big storms, and big waves, and high winds. So I would head out to MacDonald Head with Shorty, the sketchbook, and a camera, and catch whatever I could. And then dash back to the studio, dry off, and get back to work.
This is the first one; the wind was strong enough to make standing very difficult, but we tried working our way up from Stony Beach. Until a squall came in. It's a marvellous site until it's directly overhead...oil on canvasboard, 11x14

Another day we headed out - this one was cold and damp, with long rolling breakers coming into the outlet between Stony Beach and the eastern end of Conrad's, and grey foggy skies. In a funny way, it's my favourite weather. That cad yellow really is to harsh though. Oil on canvasboard, 9x12

During another storm, Shorty & I went climbing around on the head, which resulted in this picture. The offshore buoys were recording waves of 25+ feet, inshore I guess they were around 10-15 ft, though it's very hard to judge. What struck me then - and it's something that often does during these storms - was the odd colour of the light, particularly in the fog that rolled in and out. Oil on canvasboard, 10x14

But the storm moved off quickly; as it cleared the double layer of clouds stood out, and the rosy tints off to the south, and the sea which had been beaten into a froth. Oil on canvasboard, 10x14

And the next day? Back to something more serene.Oil on canvas, 11x14.

Laneway, December

2011-01-20T03:34:00.000-04:00

Time to catch up on uploading work!. Snow in the lane; started outside, finished inside. 11x14 oil on canvasboard.

Life Drawing (Better Late than Never)

2010-10-02T13:29:00.000-03:00

Figure drawing on Monday night again, I forgot to put this up here (it's over on WC)

I found these first two quick takes (3 minutes) the most interesting to do. While I was working on the quicker poses, it struck me that if if two tech goals are:
a) To be able to draw a subject w/o looking at the paper (as in blind contour drawing);
b) To be able to draw a subject with only occasional glances at the model while focusing on the drawing;
then putting these together:
Wouldn't it make sense to be able to draw a subject with only a few glances at the model AND the paper? Hmmmmm.....
So I gave it a try - stare at the model for a few seconds, place my charcoal on the paper, close my eyes, and start to draw, trying to collate my memory of the model with what I thought my hand was doing. As I moved from blocking in towards more detail, I had to open my eyes more in both directions. It's actually quite an intriguing feeling, very different than the more traditional approach of visually combining the subject and the drawing to (more or less) create a tracing. Not that I'm very good at that either, but I think these things help stretch the brain muscles!

Anyway, here are some of the (more passable) quick takes (22x34 compressed charcoal on newsprint):

Then the longer poses, both nupastel & conte on Kraft paper, 24x36:

Grand Desert, Dyke Rd., #7

2010-09-30T19:38:00.000-03:00

Another day, andother Grand Desert. This time I took a picture I had started yesterday & reworked it.
Oil on canvasboard, 9x12

The fog was rolling in and out all afternoon, sometimes the sky seemed almost clear, and sometinmes more like this:

The light when the fog is heavy is wonderful for painting; unfortunately one can't see the motif.....

Grand Desert, Dyke Rd., #6

2010-09-29T23:23:00.000-03:00

Today was foggy and warm out at Drand Desert, but with a good wind that left me pretty sticky woth salt after a long afternoon. I caught two paintings out there, one is still too wet to scan, and (right now) I like this one better. The fog and ground mist were actually quite interesting; looking north it moved from a brown tint through to an ochre to almost blue (much higher up)....

10x14, oil on canvasboard

There were plenty of distractions, particularly the birds...I think I surprised the hawk when I first arrived, he had been on the ground busily tearing at something, but flew of as the car approached. Then for the next half hour or so he hedgehopped - rarely more than 10 feet in the air, but never setting down. I think he wanted to make sure I didn't share his meal....

Grand Desert, Dyke Rd., #5

2010-09-29T00:04:00.000-03:00

Spending time out there is getting addictive.
Oil on canvasboard, 10x14.

Now I'll put it away to dry for awhile, and then get back to it once the weather turns...

Grand Desert, Dyke Rd., #3

2010-09-19T10:14:00.001-03:00

This was from my third trip out to Grand Desert:

There's still lots of work to do before I put it away, but it's a step up (I hope) from its plein air origins:

It was an interesting day; when I first arrived, this is what was tearing down from the north, enough to make one feel a little paranoid!

But then it veered east as it passed by. and started crumbling as it hit the water (to the south), and didn't make it far out to sea.

On the other hand, this bank pretty much held all afternoon to the south, moving in but then moving out again, never coming ashore:

While this came in from the northwest, looking positively mountainous:

and passed to the southwest, making for wonderful effects as it passed between me and the sun:

These opened up on the way home (diving west); torrential downpours and high winds followed by clear breaks while driving straight into the sun. Fun and games!

Oddly enough, I don't think I had a directly cloud overhead all day.

And when I got home, it had all gone away, leaving just a lovely sunset:

Life Drawing

2010-09-19T09:22:00.000-03:00

Trying to get caught up here....This is from last Monday (Conte on Kraft paper, 24x36):

It feels good to be back at "work".

Grand Desert, Dyke Rd.

2010-09-16T19:23:00.000-03:00

The day wsan't too bad to start, but towards the end the wind was strong enough that I had to hold the picture with one hand while I drew...it only fell over twice. Still lots of work to do, but tomorrow it's supposed to rain so I can play with it in the studio.

This is mostly Rembrandt and Sennelier pastels, 24x36, Kraft paper.

Some photos from today...

2010-09-11T19:26:00.000-03:00

Another spectacular day, though a bit wet and windy...
Surfers at Lawrencetown:

Off Dyke Road, Grand Desert:

Dyke Road

2010-09-11T19:02:00.000-03:00

Done at the end of Dyke Road, Grand Desert, Nova scotia. Quite a variable day:
Pastel on Kraft paper, about 18x24:

Golden Glow

2010-09-09T14:03:00.001-03:00

It's a perennial member of the sunflower family that grows prety abundantly around here, at least when it doesn't get knocked down by hurricanes. It makes for lovely bouquets with goldenrod, nightshade, and wild asters...
Pastel, 12x16, on toned pastel paper.

Conrad's Beach, Dawn

2010-09-09T07:12:00.001-03:00

taken yesterday up at Conrad's Beach. I had gone up to paint, but the mosquitos made that impossible....

Laneway (RIP)

2010-09-07T11:07:00.000-03:00

Alas, the sad end to the trees I was drawing last week....