Posts tagged ‘life’
It’s Life Jim, but not as we know it
Self Portrait
After last week’s disaster which was too awful to put on here until I get round to painting over it with some corrections, this week’s lesson was the first of two sessions painting a self-portrait. Does it still count as Life Painting, I wonder, when you yourself are the model? It’s a bit like Charlie Chaplin being both sides of the camera when making his films.
Now I don’t want to tempt fate, but I feel quite pleased with the way it’s going so far. Lot’s more to do to it yet. Only half way through as the time goes, so does that mean the painting is half way through? My main worry is that next week I will do too much to it and keep trying to improve it by slapping on more and more paint. How will I know when to stop? Sometimes less is more. Well we shall see. So the questions I’m asking today are:
- How do you know when the painting is finished?
- Does it still count as Life Painting when you are both model and artist (and fully clothed!)
If anyone can suggest answers to these please let me know.
Life Drawing in the Absence of Models
Eve, a drawing of a statue of a bare lady, almost like life drawing
Here we are then. A couple of dreadful sketches from real life, courtesy of passengers on SouthWest Trains, and one of a beautiful statue in the V&A museum. It’s unfinished, time ran out and I had to be somewhere else. And it’s OK but not that good. More of a learning experience. So what did I learn? That I need to practice more, and that I need to measure better to get the proportions right – the body is too short and I have lost some of her feminine curves. I plan to go back and draw Eve again, but perhaps with grey paper, chalk and charcoal.
As for the commuters, both of these are unfinished because they got off the train before I had a chance to finish. I know, I know, the lesson is to draw faster. I just can’t seem to do it though!
Passenger 1, girl with a wide mouth
Passenger 2, bloke on the train
