TSA yesterday

I had life painting class yesterday morning.  We started a new two week pose trying for the correct tone and now hue as well.  We're using more paint choices -- 2 each of blue, red and yellow plus white and maybe raw sienna.  I took a label with me to put up by my sculpture.  No one asked me the title of the piece and I didn't say it though I wanted to.  My teacher thought it was kind of "cartoonish" which I think she meant as a good thing but which was not what I was going for.  I went back in the evening for open drawing and did another non-sequential drawing.  I want to use this for my extra piece for credit in drawing class this term.  I like my second attempt even better than the first -- which is now on the wall at school.



Non-sequential drawing

Yesterday in drawing class, after some warm-up gestures, we worked on one image from twelve 10 minutes poses.  We were to draw only part of the figure each time.  The teacher suggested one method would be to draw a grid and put one picture into each square.  I might try that for my "extra" drawing.  Below is what I did yesterday.  Mine looked completely different from any other student but was oddly similar to ones done by the teacher which he showed us towards the end of the afternoon.

Depth

In life painting this week we worked on the same pose and learned some techniques for adding depth.  Again the focus was on accurate tonal range and not accurate hue -- that will come later.  I'm happy that I can see that the image has been improved.  Here's the comparison.



Toby in his cone

Toby had his neutering operation yesterday.  Laser surgery no less.  He seems to be pretty good today though he hates the cone.  And I'd never considered how muddy the cone would get during our walks.  Toby loves to smell and sniff and rub in anything he finds.  I'm thinking of using the cone for the plinth of my extra credit sculpture which is to be from 3 found objects.  I've already picked up some wood on our walks.

Before the operation.  With his squeak toy.

Life Drawing

The life drawing course that I'm taking this spring is called "Explorations in Figure Studies" and is team-taught.  This week we had the second teacher -- who happens to also be my life painting teacher this term.  The first teacher will be back again next week and then the second for the last 4 classes.  This week we worked with multi-media and various methods.  Ink, BBQ skewers, wax resists, frames.  It was a challenge.  I liked some of my results using the stick with ink.  My experience in this class makes me want to take "Drawing as a contemporary practice" in the fall and winter.

What it feels like

My figure sculpture is finished and hanging on a wall at TSA.  Our next project is to be a mask.  In the critique of our work the teacher said she liked the "cartoonish" quality of the figure but she thought the details were maybe overdone.  Too much.  The lock and the handcuffs.  I, on the other hand, felt I made pretty much the figure that evolved in my head as I worked.  The last bit were the arms and hands.

Sculpture

I've made the arms for my sculpture.  I'll add them on Monday morning.  They'll attach behind the body and then fold over top.  I'm glad to be able to use the handcuffs.

Story of my life!

(From a Globe article about salaries)

TSA Open drawing

I went to open drawing again last night and stayed to the end!  That was my main goal.  At the time I didn't feel I was doing good work but once home I like some of what I did.

Life Painting

We started a two week pose in life drawing this morning.  We mixed a range of 5 tones using only primary colours -- no earth tones from tubes.  It was all about tone today and NOT hue (accurate colour).  The teacher said that I could now be confident that I'm seeing accurately and start to use more paint.  On this image she said that I had placed the model in the space well with the linked tones.  And it's clear she's sitting on a chair.  That was the main goal for this week.  Next week we will continue with the same painting -- not to add colour but to work more on the tonal shifts, refining how to show depth and etc.  The teacher mentioned my previous teacher and how they have different methods.  He uses the Old Master palette and earth tones to "umber it down" -- while she uses complementary colour mixing.

Drawings

As usual my life drawing teacher displayed some of our work on the wall at school.  This week he just asked for one that we liked.  I chose the one where the model was turned into water.

What it feels like

My figure sculpture is coming along.  We'll have some time on Monday in class before we present the results.  This weekend I need to make the arms which will be handcuffed together.  My title now is "What it feels like."

Distortion

Our topic in life drawing this week was distortion.  As the teacher pointed out, distortion includes anything from idealism all the way to the grotesque.  We did distortions of size and shape and we also did distortions based on emotional responses.  Here are some that I did.

Model made of stone

Model made of smoke

Elongated Model

Model bent into a frame

Relaxed Model

Despair

Knee coming forward