Using colour 2

2. Standing pose.

Another version of
a sketch for the
standing pose

I wanted to change the orientation this time for the second drawing of Using Colour.
Again I used the same model as previously. It was taken from a previous 10 minute sketch of a standing pose at my life drawing group. Surely, when I compare with my other figure sketches, this must  be one of the better 10 minute sketches.  I did find however, that copying this sketch for the drawing, a little more challenging than the initial sketch for some reason. 





The surface is cream Ingres paper and the background was covered with leftover acrylic and gesso, applied quite dry. For the outlines of the figure I used dark red marker pen. Immediately afterwards I regretted using this method as it seemed to look too hard and uniform against the background,  I think because of the background's haziness which seems to move in and out from the surface. 

Sketch for
standing pose

At this point I thought about a drawing I had been impressed by in a book of mine called Drawing Projects. It hasn’t been in my possession long and so far I’ve only tried a couple of exercises. The projects are intriguingly experimental and  unconventional. I thought I would take a risk and try out a technique which was totally new to me, but looked quite fun to do.  So I had a go with it, over the top of my existing drawing - after all this part of the course is called Draw and Experiment. I was very hesitant about using this technique at first – afraid to completely ruin it, but what the heck, it’s important to take a risk now and again... otherwise I'm not going to learn much at all.

RB Kitaj Ashmolean drawing - pencil

As with Louis Freund's drawing 'La Pieta', (Research Point, Part 5) the process entailed building up a mass of lines in a multitude of directions. In the drawing by RB Kitaj (right) the lines aren't so densely compacted as to completely obscure the light  or white surface beneath, leaving I think, the right balance between heavy and light.  It seemed to take ages to build up what I considered to be a sufficient density of lines, using the pencil and slashing marks of the eraser. At one point I must have become carried away - applying too much pressure on the surface  with the side of the pencil point (6B pure graphite pencil), as the density of shading in most areas around the figure was such that it obscured much of the light painted surface underneath. The figure's contours on the right were also more obvious looking. These were not effects I wanted. To remedy this I applied further firm rapid long  slashing marks with the corner of the eraser over the background area, frequently continuing over the edges of the figure's contours, until eventually the density appeared adequately broken up. At least I didn't need to fear damaging the paper, as the surface was very tough, having previously been coated with acrylic paint and gesso. The sheen on the paper's surface caused by repeated application of  graphite however,looks at odds with the areas without graphite. Proportion is another area I'm not completely happy about: the model's right arm looks a bit too short. I wonder though if this is partly due to the end of the hand being barely visible. The buttock, although in actuality was rather flat looking, exaggerating its shape would have perhaps helped , as it looks shapeless. 

finished version

This  figure's pose is quite static - various energetic marks applied over and around the subject, have the effect of promoting a feeling of turbulence and energy, in a similar way I think to many of Giacometti's paintings and drawings, whose subjects often also appear haunted or disturbed . Unlike Giacometti though, the surroundings here appear to conflict with  the subject who, rather than appearing haunted or disturbed, looks quite  unperturbed, calm and confident amid the turmoil, in spite of the energy flowing through and around her body. I think there is more similarity in this respect with RB Kitaj's drawing, yet my model  looks less troubled even than the figure there. This is a technique I think  would complement well a figure in a more active pose, if I was to try it out again as I intend.