Ronan Walsh portraits

From the Camberwell Open

These two portraits, hung on the wall of the cafe at Camberwell Baths, struck me as being particularly interesting.

First, they are good portraits to the extent that they make you think about the person they are depicting and tells you a little about what they might be like as people. Second, the technique is unusual and different in each, suggesting that the choice for each was intentional. Third, there is a fascination about the artist using geometrical patterns to describe peoples' faces. Third, the colours are not natural.

Ronan Walsh Bearded Bill
from Camberwell Open
Both from www.ronanwalsh.co.uk

The tone variation in the face is brilliant. The use of geometrical shapes works very well there. I also like the way the wispier strands of beard transmute into more mechanical shapes. I was thinking that these might turn out to be meaningful and symbolise something about the man himself, but I can't see what that is myself.

Ronan Walsh from Camberwell Open

I think the pencil drawing is more successful in the sense that you think about the man rather than the technique when you look at it. It took me some time to see the child in the coloured drawing. I expect it was done from a photo, because of the strong expression of playfulness on the mother's face, and unstable posture, which would be difficult to hold for long enough. The flat space is interesting. It does emphasise the skin areas, which is naturally what you are interested in for a portrait. This portrait makes me want to have a go at using coloured geometric shapes to represent skin and play around with it a bit.

Trying to draw moving people

I went to the ice rink and drew some of the people I saw there learning to skate.
Obviously this is a different skill altogether, because they move all the time!
The result was that I had to use very few lines, and also that most of the page is filled with partial figures.

I had to draw very quickly indeed in order to get even one line down to describe the shapes. I tried drawing without looking at the page at all (middle figure). I thought the toddler with the huge helmet and a support looked funny. With the girl skating backwards I tried to capture the look of intense concentration in her unfocussed eyes, surrounded by her fake fur hood.

By the second page, I was trying more to get the shape of the person from where I was sitting, rather than the detail. That meant that in some places there were blocks of shading or only the wrinkles in the trousers. The teacher had a

distinctive and surprisingly still posture, with one foot off the ice and her hands behind her back. The figure on the left is the only one that has much feeling of movement. I drew it very fast with a sweeping motion.

Lastly, I drew a boy in a seat in front of me who was taking off his skates and talking to his brother at the same time. Again, it was tricky to get his head and hands right when he kept moving them! I rather liked the way the boot took over and became huge, as that was the centre of attention.

Lifedrawing 3

Two minute poses

 I went to a different life drawing class this week, where there were easels and some advice from professional artists running it.

Having an easel took a little getting used to, and I didn't at first get the angle right so that I could draw and see at the same them.

These first poses seemed very short indeed. I felt rushed and sometimes that helped me to be freer, and sometimes not.

After a while, there was a brief demonstration of gestural drawing.

Gestural Drawing
Since this class I have had a look at what various websites and books say about gestural drawing, and I think that the artist who did this demonstration did a particularly clear job of saying and showing what it is. What I understand is that it is about using your own body's knowledge of gesture to sketch in the position of the model, 'as if I were in that position.' ie what it feels like to be in that position, which we all know instinctively so don't need to think about with our heads.

This is a quick thing, requires a looser hold on the pencil, and more flowing lines.

After that, the details can be filled in if there is any time.

The rest of my sketches were done after this talk, and I think show that it really helped me to capture the proportions and positions of the model.

Two minute poses




















Getting tired before tea break, I lost my concentration and the gestural drawing stopped...

Five minute poses

I found these arms particularly difficult to imagine myself into, and it shows!

I need to work on drawing faces. Looking at these now, I have been avoiding drawing the face and hands.

10 and 15 minute poses

The drawings are finally starting to look like the model, Carla.

I was particularly pleased with the shape of the shoulders in the last one, the way the lines are faded in the background, and the way her face turned out. Of all the sketches I did this one has the best face by a long way. I have no doubt this is because it was upside down and therefore I actually had to look at it.

This life drawing is really helping me to see. I am really looking forward to next week's session.

Life drawing

Sketchbook hand

I did this very early in the course to try out what it looked like drawing on newspaper. The proportions are weird and I hadn't yet learned about using tone.

First life drawing class
It was set up so there were some brief poses at the beginning, followed by longer (15 minute) ones.

I was pleased with the line of the arm in this one, but the shape of the head was wrong (although quite pretty!)

The whole thing is flat, as well.

This second one (left) has a bit more solidity to it, partly because I tried shading ,and also the different pressure on the pencil in parts, but the proportions are all wrong.

I decided to try using conte crayon to make myself shade a bit more, and this worked better (right) (although the head and proportion of the right arm...)

For the last and longest pose I used a 4B pencil. It needed a few revisions to get the proportions approximately right, and if I had been doing it at home I would have given up much earlier because it really wasn't going well. But perseverance paid off and here she is, looking not unlike the real thing, with an intent quietness about her that reflects what it felt like to be there.

When the end came, I couldn't believe it had been 2 hours. I had been focussing so much on the drawing that I hadn't felt the time pass.

Second Life Drawing Class
The model turned up in Santa hat, and for the longer poses, beard and boots.
I hadn't done any life sketches since the first class, and it took me a few brief poses to get into the swing of it. During this time I decided that I want to jump forward to this section of the course, to get the most out of these classes.

Two minute poses:
When I got there I first sat at a table with no light, not realising how much I need to be able to see what I am drawing!

There's something about trying to capture what I see in 2 minutes that makes a different part of me take over, which actually proves to be remarkably good at deciding what's important.

Here is a strong relationship between the elbows and shoulders...

Here is the movement of throwing...

Here is the twist of the arm behind the back and thigh...
None of which I could have done easily if I'd consciously known that was what I was trying to do.







Three minute poses:

Charcoal sketch which I think has a certain amount going for it. Apart from the fact that I started in the middle so had no space on the paper for the feet!

This is my embarrassing second try, which has crazy proportions, odd shapes, looks like Santa is wearing snow goggles, and no solidity.

At this point I moved to a lighter place, took a deep breath, and started again.

Five minute poses:

These two 5 minute sketches show how I was trying to use shadow to define the shapes, as well as line,
which was working a lot better than just lines.
I really don't get how to draw faces yet!
I'm pleased with the arms and legs in the top drawing, though, and whatever it is about it that suggests his age - something to do with the shapes of the shadows on his chest?

Ten minute poses:

This conte crayon drawing was done almost entirely with shading, and gives a good idea of how weary this model seemed to be. Again, I didn't plan it properly and the edge of the paper cut off his leg and the top of his hat, but in a way I think that adds to the feeling that he would rather have been leaning against something.

I am surprised, looking at it now, about how sharp the edges of the shadows are, because of the way I was doing it with the edge of the crayon, but that this works to define his shape in the strong light.

I felt I needed to sketch some of the chair in to show how he was sitting.

This was another one where I thought the shadows worked well to show the shape of his back, The leg and arms were badly proportioned from the start, (as usual arms to small) and I need to work on getting this right more often.

But I actually rather like this one for the feeling of presence of the torso.

Naked santa.

This looks more like I think life drawings 'ought' to look, with realistic proportions and lined shading. By this time I had overcome my discomfort at having to draw his dangly bits.

The left arm needed reworking to get it this big, but it's still a bit too small.

One day I will think for long enough before starting, so that the whole body gets on the page!











Fifteen minute poses:

Sleeping naked santa

Again, these two sketches show that I need to work on proportions, especially in the arms, and on drawing faces.

My 1 minute sofa's not bad though.

Ho ho ho.