In the New Year, knowing that part four of the drawing course was ‘The Figure and the Head’, I started to explore local groups to join. I was very lucky to find the High Wych group on Facebook. They would meet every Wednesday evening in High Wych community hall, a village only a mile from my home. Their contact details and welcome statement are below.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Art/High-Wych-life-Drawing-Group-204214270128963/
‘Come and join our friendly Group in a century’s old tradition of capturing the human form on paper.
First timers to experienced artist, everyone welcome.’
This group seemed perfect for me; two hours with a professional life model, in a casual, friendly set-up. All levels welcome. Fee, ten pounds per session. There was no teaching involved with the session, just the opportunity to sit and draw a nude model. The model would give 3 poses per session: standing, seated and reclined. Occasionally, there be would be ‘light’ instruction available from an experienced member of the group. The teaching was really by taking part.
I learnt so much from this class, just before I was due to start part four of the course. Please see the images below – which I tried to keep in chronological order (as much as could remember). I attended between January and March 2020.
I tried to experiment with different drawing materials and paper. As always, I found the best images were the ones I didn’t labour over, or over-think. Some images were less successful than others – but, for me, the class was all about experimenting with your own style.
I learnt so much from looking at other’s work and techniques. Some of the participants were amazing artists. What amazed me was how absolutely everyone’s style was so different. Some used sweeps of pastel, some used brushes, some used graphite pencil etc.. Small images, large images, abstract images and realism images. Some were very interested in my use of brown paper – both positive and confused comments (but kind and constructive). For my next step, I wanted to experiment with the idea of focusing on a part of the figure, rather than just keep plonking the whole figure into the middle of the paper. I had seen another of member of the group do this and I could see how effective it was as a technique. I also liked the idea of coloured pastel on coloured paper, as I had seen this method and liked it.
I learnt that I needed to work on proportion and foreshortening. Also, tonal work – which has been ongoing, as part of the course. Hands and feet were very tricky. My faces were laughable ! But persistence and practice seemed to be slowly finding a path through the darkness!
BUT THEN, the Corona virus struck! The class had to disband. I would now need to complete part four using my husband and the internet as a model source! My husband would not consider nude modelling but would allow some clothed poses, if he could be comfortable (with food, beer and the remote). So this was now to be my way forward into this section of the course.
43 cm x 23cm brown paper 0.8 fine line pen
30cm x 59cm white paper 0.8 fine line pen and crayon
40 cm x 23cm brown paper crayon
33cm x 25cm brown paper charcoal
43 cm x 33cm brown paper 0.8 fine line pen
43 cm x 23 cm brown paper pastel
35cm x 45cm brown paper pastel
28 cm x 35cm brown paper 0.8 fine line pen and pastel
33cm x 30cm brown paper 0.8 fine line pen and pastel
38cm x 25 cm brown paper 0.8 fine line pen and pastel
44cm x 20cm white paper 0.8 fine line pen
34 cm x 43cm white paper charcoal
30cm x 50cm white paper 0.8 fine line pen and pastel
42cm x 51cm white paper charcoal and pastel
50cm x 36cm white paper charcoal
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