We had four hours this morning to get together. After initial introductions we had a substantial period of time to work on a project; then we got together with another student as a pair to share and discuss our work; bit more time to work; then we got together at the end when each student had a chance to show what they’d done and one or two other students were invited by name to comment thereon.
My work today was on Part 4, Project 6, Ex 1 – studying and drawing loads of ears, noses, eyes, etc, to make a kind of bank to which I can refer. I started with noses, which are really weird things when you look at them in isolation, rather discombobulating, so I switched to ears – which turn out to be even more unworldly. I was using the Unsplash site to generate images of heads, so tried to make sure I had some seen from the side and some face-on. I started off with a 2B pencil but, with my left hand, the fine control was not there so I switched to an HB Nitram stick which is much more forgiving of what I am able to do.
Part-way through this, I had a conversation with fellow-student David. His task was really out there – he is doing Drawing 2, and had to do a drawing with a pencil attached to the end of a 4-foot long bamboo stick. Wow. He decided to work standing up and walking around – he had had a practice run the day before and was visibly refining his procedure and control over his mark-making as he went. He drew an orchid onto A1 wallpaper, and his medium was a Pierre Noire Conte which he sharpened to a prodigious point – although it had worn to a sharp chisel edge by the time he spoke to me. He managed to produce a very recognisable line drawing of the orchid, and was now concentrating on adding tone. Hope my shoulder is better before I get onto that!!
He recommended www.proko.com for videos showing how to draw facial features, and also a text by Andrew Loomis from the 1950s which he says has some really helpful demonstrations of facial drawings to work through.
Caroline the tutor pitched in then to offer me some advice about drawing the face (or indeed anything) – she recommended running your hands over e.g. the eyes, nose, chin etc – feel the planes and the sweeps, which will help in the drawing of gestures. She clearly believes in constantly returning to the object you are drawing for reference – she posted this quote for us to consider from the book “Mute objects of expression” by Francis Ponge, 1976, Archipelago Books:
BANKS OF THE LOIRE
Roanne, May 24, 1941
From now on, may nothing ever cause me to go back on my resolve: never sacrifice the object of my study in order to enhance some verbal turn discovered on the subject, nor piece together any such discoveries in a poem. Always go back to the object itself, to its raw quality, its difference: particularly its difference from what I’ve (just then) written about it. May my work be one of continual rectification of expression on behalf of the raw object (with no a priori concern about the form of that expression). Therefore, writing about the Loire from a place along the banks of the river, I must constantly immerse my eyes and mind in it. Any time they dry up over an expression, dip them back into the waters of the river. Recognize the greater right of the object, its inalienable right, in relation to any poem… No poem ever being free from absolute judgment a minima on the part of the poem’s object, nor from accusation of counterfeit.
She herself was working alongside us during this session on a commission she had been given to make some artworks for public exhibition representing the River Cam, and today she was making some smaller prints from photos she had taken of the water whilst actually swimming in the Cam – it felt quite special to have her working with us, and gave her an idea of our experience of the session so she could judge timings, I guess.
After a bit more work we got together, took it in turns to show our work, and were called on individually to comment on a piece – good practice in looking carefully but quickly and analysing on the hoof.
A useful session – see A3 sketchbook and separate blog post (eventually) on Project 6 Ex 1.
Sue J's blog 