Saturday life drawing - November

 Had a good session at the art gallery yesterday. My tutor suggested I use a limited palette of four colours: blue black, white, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. I was a bit sceptical of my ability to do anything useful with just those four colours but actually, I was really pleased with the result. It's not a good photograph - doesnt show the colours as they actually are. I also tried to work from dark to light as I tend to make my paintings very pale to start with. I faff for ages with too subtle a range of tones, then have to wallop in a load of dark tones just before time's up. not a good way to work.

Saturday life drawing

March life drawing

 

It was our monthly life drawing day with Brian at the art gallery yesterday; there was all kinds of bad drawing and painting going on from me! Just couldn't get any proportions correct.

I had high hope for the painting as we had a two-hour pose but the fire alarm went off an hour into te pose and we lost half an hour to standing around outside in the cold. Not that I'm blaming my rubishness on that of course...! I was just having an off day.

Week 12

3 x 5 minute drawings

It was our last life drawing session of the term this week. I was hoping to sign up for next term but very sadly, the gallery is havng to move premises at very short notice so no more sessions until they find a new venue. Gutted. Going to have to have a swift rethink over the Christmas period as I don't want to lose the momentum I've built up over the last four months. And I've only just begun my painting adventure!

3 x 2 minute sketches

20 minutes

30 minute oil sketch

Life drawing weeks 10 and 11

Quick oil sketch - 45 minutes

I don't have an awful lot to show for the last couple of weeks at life drawing as I have begun to paint in the sessions, and as I'm completely new to this, the results are somewhat ropey.

This first image is from the long pose at the end of the session, about 45 minutes, and is nothing more than a rough sketch in oils. The week before I had longer, over an hour, but what I produced was terrible so I wiped it all off and reused the board this week. It's going to take me a long time to master this I think but I'm really enjoying the process so far, even though the end product is no good.

I have been making drawings during the short poses to get my eye in and because there isn't really time to paint then.

Dusting off the oil paints

I'm always saying I want to paint but manage about one painting every couple of years. I have actully dusted off the paints in the last couple of weeks though and have started to tinker using one of my life drawings as source material. The results of my tinkering are here. Not at all a good painting but I enjoyed fiddling with washes and layering the paint. Also trying to mix a convincing flesh tone - that's going to take some practice.

I think I like the earliest, roughest stages better than the later, more worked effect. This isn't a finished piece, just a warm-up exercise so I don't think I'll do any more to it. It is pretty awful really but there are bits which are approaching okay and I've learnt some things from it. Onwards and upwards. Just another 9,995 hours to go before I become an expert...