Portland and the Chesil Beach

Bright Sea on a Grey Day - Abbotsbury Hill
23 November 2014
Watercolour on Paper
18cm x 12cm (7" x 5")

The view of Portland and the Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury Hill is one of my favourite scenes. I love the ancient landscape, the strangeness of the Chesil Beach and the Fleet and the graceful curve from Portland into the straightness of the beach.

Portland and the Chesil Beach

I drew these sketches and took the photograph last Sunday on a cold grey morning. I have limited experience of drawing landscapes from life and found this view to be particularly challenging. When I got home, I added some more contrast to the sketch. Next time I will focus more on the tonal differences while I am sketching.

Portland and the Chesil Beach
23 November 2014
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook
210mm x 149mm (8.3" x 5.9")

One of my ambitions it is to become less reliant on painting from photographs. I would rather paint from sketches or from life.

Portland and the Chesil Beach - Gesture Drawing
23 November 2014
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook
210mm x 149mm (8.3" x 5.9")

Movement in the Mannikin Frame

Movement in the Mannikin Frame - 1
Copied from Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
Graphite Pencil on Paper

This is my second post about the mannikin frame from Andrew Loomis’ Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth (see The Mannikin Frame - Part One).

On his second page of mannikin frame drawings, Loomis stresses the importance of incorporating life and action into the figures. His drawings on this page are looser and more dynamic than on the previous page.

Movement in the Mannikin Frame - 2
Copied from Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
Graphite Pencil on Paper

The first two sets of drawings on this post are copies of Loomis’s drawings. The third set is based on gesture drawings of Elaine.

Movement in the Mannikin Frame - 3
Wax Crayon & Graphite Pencil on Paper

Elaine took three 1 minutes poses while I made scribbled gesture studies in coloured crayon. Subsequently, I drew the mannikin frame on top of the gesture drawing. I had to use the male frame because I haven’t reached Loomis' explanation of the female mannikin.

The drawings haven't turned out quite as well as I had hoped for, but this leaves plenty of room for practice and improvement.

Composition from Reproductions

Analysis of Reproductions - Darks
Based on "The Arch of Titus in Rome, 
before restoration carried out by Valadier" by Canaletto
20 September 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
10cm x 13cm (4" x 5")

This is a long overdue post – “Composition from Reproductions” and “Analysis of Reproductions” are probably the only exercises from the Natural Way to Draw which haven’t appeared on this blog.

Composition from Reproductions involves drawing small gesture studies from reproductions of works of art. Kimon Nicolaides instructions are:

“Allow the eye and the pencil, more or less at the same time, to roam in a rather easy and casual manner wherever the movement, lines, forms, darks and lights seem to beckon, with no attempt to delineate their meaning either with your pencil or in your mind.”

Composition from Reproductions
Based on "Assisi" and "Small Fishing Boats Treport France"
by Maurice Prendergast
15 August 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
16cm x 24cm (6.25" x 9.5")

Analysis of Reproductions includes three extensions to the basic exercise:

• Take one of the gesture studies and emphasise the dark areas in the work of art
• Turn one of the gesture studies upside down and use it as a starting point for a gesture study of something you have recently seen or done
• Take one of the gesture studies and analyse the straight and curved lines in the composition

Nicolaides suggests the student should be able to complete 6 studies in less than 15 minutes and should do 6 studies a day for 4 years – what a hard task master.

I am still following the exercise, but not quite at this intensity. I tend to draw 20 studies a week and skip weeks when I am busy.

 

Analysis of Reproductions - Straight and Curved Lines
Based on "Perspective View with Portico" by Canaletto
20 September 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
11.5cm x 14cm (4.5" x 5.5")

The main benefit of the exercise is it is expanding my knowledge and appreciation of art – I am looking at art that I wouldn't have studied if it wasn't for the exercise.

Analysis of Reproductions - Upside Down Gesture
Passengers Boarding a Plane
Based on "London Westminster Abbey With A Procession Of Knights Of The Bath 1749" 
by Canaletto
20 September 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
13cm x 13cm (5" x 5")

If you are interested in looking at the originals you can find them at:

• http://www.canalettogallery.org/L'Arco-di-Tito-a-Roma,-prima-del-restauro-effettuato-dal-Valadier.html
• http://www.canalettogallery.org/London---Westminster-Abbey-With-A-Procession-Of-Knights-Of-The-Bath-1749.html
• http://www.canalettogallery.org/Perspective.html
• http://www.mauricebrazilprendergast.org/Assisi.html
• http://www.mauricebrazilprendergast.org/Small-Fishing-Boats--Treport--France.html

This exercise must have been more challenging in the days before the internet. Perhaps everyone used to have huge books of reproductions instead of computers.

Keys to Drawing – Chapter 2

 

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2F
40 Minutes
1 August 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
26cm x 37cm (10.25" x 14.5")


Chapter 2 of the Keys to Drawing is called “The Artist's Handwriting”. It is another well-balanced mixture of explanation and exercises.


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2A
20 Minutes
18 July 2013
Ink on Paper
29cm x 34.5cm (11.5" x 13.5")


The chapter starts with an exploration of the “handwriting” in some master drawings. Exercise 2A is a copy of one of the drawings and Exercise 2B is a drawing in the same style. The objective is to get inside the mind of a great artist and to experience their process by emulating their handwriting.


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2B
20 Minutes
18 July 2013
Ink on Paper
26cm x 32cm (10.25" x 12.5")


These are intriguing exercises. I’m not sure whether I approached the drawings in the say way as Matisse, but I had a definite sense that the flow and arrangement of the lines was more important than accurate proportions and draughtsmanship.


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2C
1-Minute Gesture Drawings
23 July 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
26cm x 36.5cm (10.25" x 14.5")


The chapter introduces the concepts of the control hand and the free hand. The control hand is similar to the tight, close to the point grip we use for writing. The free hand is a looser grip and the pencil is held further away from the point.


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2C
2-Minute Connected Line Drawing
23 July 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
23cm x 36cm (9" x 14")


More importantly (for me) are the mindsets that Bert Dodson associates with the different grips. The free hand is associated with a carefree, exploratory, big picture frame of mind. The control hand is associated with a more precise, detail-oriented attitude. The remaining exercises in the chapter explore the differences between these two hands/mindsets.


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2C
5-Minute Burn
23 July 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
38cm x 29cm (15" x 11.5")


Exercise 2C is a collection of gestural drawings using the free hand.
 

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2D & 2E
30 Minutes each
30 July 2013
Graphite Pencil and Ink on Paper
27cm x 37cm (10.5" x 14.5")

Exercise 2D and Exercise 2E are exercises in control hand drawing. Exercise 2D is a tonal bar and Exercise 2E is an attempt to match the tones in a photograph from the book.

Exercise 2F (at the top of the post) is my favourite exercise from the chapter – it is a drawing in which you alternate between the free and control hand. 


Keys to Drawing - Exercise 2F 2009
40 Minutes
10 September 2009
Graphite Pencil on Paper
18cm x 26.5cm (7" x 10.5")


This last picture on the post is my drawing for exercise 2F from when I first read the Keys to Drawing in 2009. I can still remember how challenging I found these exercises without the experience of two and half years following the Natural Way to Draw.

Exercises on Coloured Paper

Watching TV - Gesture Study
10 May 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
42cm x 29.5cm (16.5" x 11.5")

Section 25 of the Natural Way to Draw is called “An Approach to the Use of Color”. The central premise is that painting (the use of colour) and drawing are not separate disciplines.

Colour is introduced into the gesture and half-hour studies by drawing on paper that has been prepared with a layer of oil paint.

The instructions for the exercises are the same as for the Exercises in Black and White Oil Color except if you have time, you can use an additional colour.

Sitting for Thirty Minutes - Half-hour Study
9 May 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
42cm x 54.5cm (16.5" x 21.5")

I have developed a technique for preparing the paper that involves mixing a pile of paint with a palette knife and then smearing it over the paper with an old airline loyalty card. It is a satisfyingly gungy process.

Asleep - Gesture Study
27 April 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
42cm x 29.5cm (16.5" x 11.5")

Kimon Nicolaides suggests preparing a number of sheets in advance - I suspect he means well in advance, so they have time to dry.

I don’t have space to dry lots of paper covered in oil paint, so I prepare the paper a day in advance and apply the paint as thinly as possible, but it is still quite tacky when I use it for the exercises. The paint tends to tug at the brush as I am drawing and blends with the colours I am adding.

Thinking - Gesture Study
27 April 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
42cm x 29.5cm (16.5" x 11.5")

The end of the book is near and I am in a breaking up for the holidays frame of mind. Messing around with paint is just adding to this carefree attitude. For the next few weeks, I am going to use this as an opportunity to return to the simplicity of gesture drawing and to focus on what it feels like to be in the pose.

The Daily Composition Revisited

Carriages at Eleven
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x 23cm (6" x 9")

 The Daily Composition is an exercise from the Natural Way to Draw (see Daily Composition and A Year of Daily Compositions)

The exercise is a daily task and is a scribbled gesture study of a scene drawn from memory. The exercise can take up to 15 minutes, but most of mine take between 5 and 10 minutes.

Preparing Dinner
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x 23cm (6" x 9")

At least half the drawings should be of something you’ve seen in the past 24 hours, but the other half can be inspired by events from longer ago.

Ideally, I draw scenes from the previous day that I’ve studied with the intention of using them for the exercise – this is how I get the most benefit.

If I draw an event from the more distant past, I enjoy finding out whether Elaine can identify it – especially if it’s an incident from before we met.

Elaine recognised the drawing at the top of the post without difficulty. It is from our honeymoon at a romantic spa in Saint Lucia (we were observers to the event - not participants). One evening a couple celebrated so enthusiastically the restaurant provided them with a wheelbarrow for their journey back to the hotel.

Felix Snoozing
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
24cm x 19cm (9.5" x 7.5")

Today’s post had to be about daily compositions because last night I broke my longest uninterrupted sequence of daily compositions – 203 days.

Elaine and I were staying with Paul and Wendy (and their new dog Alfie). I just forgot to do a drawing.  It was an unexpected lapse because during the day we visited Kurt Jackson's inspiring exhibition at the Campden Gallery.

Another Modelling the Straight and Curve Study

Sarah Watching TV
Modelling the Straight and Curve (15-Minute Pose)
6 April 2013
Lithograph Crayon on Paper
34cm x 20cm (13.5" x 8")

This is my latest Modelling the Straight and Curve study from the Natural Way to Draw.

I enjoy the exercise and the simplicity of the resulting drawings, but it is possible the studies should be more abstract. There are some lines in my drawings that are not definitely straight or definitely curved and I suspect there are more curved lines than straight (but I haven’t counted them).

If the exercise appears again, I will focus on emphasising (or even exaggerating) the straightness and curvedness of the lines. (Is curvedness a real word? Should it be curvaceousness?)

I am grateful to Sarah for posing for the study. Elaine and I visited her this weekend and she kindly offered to pose – there was very little cajoling – she practically volunteered. Thank you Sarah.

Recent Exercises in Oil and the Subjective Study

Relaxing On One Arm - Gesture Drawing
23 March 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
28cm x 24cm (11" x 9.5")

I am enjoying the exercises in oil from the Natural Way to Draw (see More Exercises in Oil).

Facing Away - Gesture Drawing
23 March 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
28cm x 32cm (11" x 12.5")

The bristle brushes I bought for the exercises have started to wear out. They are looking scruffy and will no longer form a straight edge. This has forced me to loosen up and to stop trying to draw neat and precise lines - which has improved the drawings.

Leaning on a Chair - Half-hour Study
10 March 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
33cm x 33cm (13" x 13")

The half hour study is one of my favourite exercises. You can get a lot done with oil paints in half an hour. At the end, I am usually aware of some fundamental structural problem with the drawing, but the results are interesting and characterful.

Sustained Study - Section 23 - Modelled Drawing
13 March 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
53cm x 25.5cm (21" x 10")

The modelled drawing in oil is a continuing challenge. The studies tend to start well, but by the end, there is always too much paint on the paper. At times, I still struggle with the basics of modelling with white and imagining a single light source, but this is getting easier.

Section 24 introduces the Subjective Study. It is a bit like a word association test. You look at the model and then draw the first thing that comes into your head. You look at the model again, look at the drawing and then draw something else. You can also explore further. If you look at the subject and you think of a fish, rather than draw the fish, you try to abstract (and draw) the quality (gesture) that made you think of a fish.

The objective of the exercise is to more actively involve the subconscious mind and to see and represent the model “in a manner more personally truthful” than in the other exercises.

Subjective Study - Section 23
29 March 2013
Pastel and Graphite Pencil on Paper
42cm x 59.5cm (16.5" x 23.5")

Elaine and Felix (the cat) relaxing on the sofa were the inspiration for this study. I’ve no idea whether a subjective study is supposed to look like this, but I suspect there is no right and wrong. I probably became too bogged down in the beach theme. It would have been interesting to explore what was common in Elaine and Felix’s postures, but that was not what came to mind during the exercise.

Modelling the Straight and Curve



One Leg Hanging
Modelling the Straight and Curve (10-Minute Pose)
9 March 2013
Lithograph Crayon on Paper
20.5cm x 38cm (8" x 15")


Modelling the Straight and Curve is a continuation of the Straight and Curved Lines exercise from the Natural Way to Draw.

The study is drawn with a lithograph crayon, which was the main modelling tool in the early exercises, but I don’t think I’ve touched one in over a year.

The exercise begins as a gesture drawing using straight and curved lines and continues into a stylised form of modelling.

Kimon Nicolaides does not provide much guidance for how to model in this exercise. He says it is important for the drawing to develop from the student’s feeling and understanding for the pose.

The objectives are to emphasize the form and to create a well-balanced design – which I interpret to mean a pleasing and approximately equal split of straight and curved lines.


Crawling Along
Modelling the Straight and Curve (5-Minute Pose)
9 March 2013
Lithograph Crayon on Paper
23cm x 24cm (9" x 9.5")


 It would be easy to devise a method for modelling in this exercise and to apply it to all poses, but Nicolaides stresses this is not the point. He has a wonderful turn of phrase - “This should be no cheap imitation arrived at by conscious distortion, but an effort to comprehend the gesture in a fresh way”.

Yesterday was an important milestone in Elaine and my progress through the book. We passed the 90% post. The end is in sight.

Elaine didn’t have a clue  what she was letting herself in for when I nonchalantly asked if she would pose for me. I am eternally grateful to her. (I don't know why I've drawn her in the Pope's hat in the second picture)

Predominating Shape

Leaning For 5 Minutes
Predominating Shape (5-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
35.5cm x 28cm (14" x 11")

The Predominating Shape exercise from Section 23 of the Natural Way to Draw is a gesture study based on 1 and 5 minute poses. It is a variation of the Straight and Curved Lines exercise. Instead of looking for one straight or curved line that runs through the entire figure, you look for a predominating two-dimensional shape. The shape may encapsulate the whole figure or an important part of the pose. The predominating shape does not have to be a perfect geometrical shape, but I think it has to be a relatively simple shape.

After you have identified the predominating shape, you continue in the same way as in the Straight and Curved lines exercise to add complimentary straight and curved lines. The exercise is performed at the same time as an ordinary gesture drawing and each feeds from the other. The instructions are not clear, but I’m pretty sure the intention is they are drawn on top of each other.

Leaning For 1 Minute
Predominating Shape (1-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
38cm x 26.5cm (15" x 10.5")

Unintentionally, Elaine and I repeated one of the poses in the session on the 19th of February. This provides a comparison of a 1-minute and a 5-minute study of virtually the same pose. In both poses Elaine has her back to us. In the 5-minute pose she is looking straight ahead. In the 1-minute pose she is looking to her right and is showing us slightly less of her back. It’s interesting (well it is to me) that I chose different predominating shapes for the drawings.

Lying On One Side
Predominating Shape (5-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
38cm x 20cm (15" x 8")

The predominating shape is a helpful tool in identifying alignments and relative proportions. This isn’t the main purpose of the exercise, but it's a feature I will use to improve the accuracy of my extended gesture studies (see Section 13). In Lying on One Side, the predominating skewed rectangle emphasised the alignment between Elaine’s head and knee. It also helped me to realise I had misjudged the length of her torso. I didn’t have time to correct it in this drawing, but in a longer study I would.

Cross Legged
Predominating Shape (1-Minute Pose)
19 February 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
27cm x 34cm (10.5" x 13.5")

I’m not sure what the plague beak is all about in the cross legged pose. It is not a fancy mask or false beard. I suspect it is the neckline on Elaine’s top and I was emphasising where Elaine’s neck started in relation to the predominating shape.

More Exercises in Oil

Curled Up - Half-hour Study
2 February 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
59cm x 31cm (23.25" x 12.25")

The first exercises in oil were a challenge (see Exercises in Black and White Oil Color), but now I am beginning to understand the attraction of oil paints.

I started to enjoy the exercises once I embraced the medium and stopped trying to use the brush like a pencil. This is the same lesson I had to learn for gesture drawing with the Conté crayons (see More Gestures in Black and White).

Standing Hamstring Stretch - Gesture Drawing
2 February 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
14cm x 36cm (5.5" x 14")

The studies from the original post were drawn with the quarter inch brush. Now, I am making more use of the three quarter inch brush, particularly in the shorter studies. Instead of trying to scribble (which is difficult with the limited amount of paint in the bristle brushes), I am using the three quarter inch brush to make gestural marks.


Sustained Study - Section 22 - Modelled Drawing
7 February 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
27.5cm x 51cm (10.75" x 20")

The modelled drawing is both difficult and enjoyable. The instructions are to model in the same way as with the Conté crayons - apply less pressure with the black crayon when a surface in the dark turns towards the light and less pressure with the white crayon when a surface in the light turns away from the light. This works well with the crayons. With paint, there is a tendency for it to build up during the exercise and for some of the subtlety in the initial modelling to be lost. I am not too concerned about this because Kimon Nicolaides' advice is not to worry about overworking the modelling exercises. The purpose of the exercises is to experience the sensation of modelling as though you have touched every part of the form - not to create pretty oil paintings.

Exercises in Black and White Oil Color

Leaning on One Arm - Half-hour Study
26 January 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
42cm x 53cm (17" x 21")

Section 22 of the Natural Way to Draw introduces three exercises using black and white oil paints:

• Gesture drawing in oil – This is a five minute study. It is similar to the gesture study in black and white (see Gesture in Black and White and More Gestures in Black and White) except it uses black and white oil paint instead of Conté crayons.
• Half-hour study in oil. This starts as a gesture study and continues into a combination of a modelled study and an extended gesture study.
• Sustained study in oil color – this is similar to the sustained study in crayon (see Sustained Study in Crayon and Try and Try Again) except for the use of oil paint instead of crayon. The instructions offer the opportunity to skip the contour study for the clothed pose, but I’ve chosen to include it.

Arm on Knee - Gesture Drawing
25 January 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
28cm x 22cm (11" x 8.5")

I am using water mixable oil paints (see http://www.winsornewton.com/products/oil-colours/artisan-water-mixable-oil-colour/) because I don’t want to stink the house up with turpentine or some other nasty solvent.

Kimon Nicolaides says oil paint is the best medium for the study of drawing, but I am yet to be convinced. The biggest problem is the brushes don’t hold enough paint to make continuous strokes – this is my excuse for why the gesture drawings are stilted. I couldn’t build up any momentum because I was continually having to stop to pick up more paint.


Hand On Hip in Oil - Gesture Drawing
25 January 2013
Oil Colour on Paper
29.5cm x 38cm (7.75" x 15")


Since painting these studies, I’ve started to add water to soften and loosen the paint. This has made the exercises much more enjoyable, but goes against Nicolaides instructions. He suggests the student should take moisture out of the paint to discourage it from spreading and mixing on the paper. I suspect the paints he was using were a lot wetter because the undiluted water mixable oils don’t show any tendency to slosh about on the paper.

Sustained Study - Section 22 - Contour Drawing
27 January 2013
Graphite Pencil on Tracing Paper
27.5cm x 51cm (10.75" x 20")

This is my contour drawing for the sustained study from Section 22. When I took the photo, the face detection facility on the camera noticed Elaine’s face. This surprised me because its never found a face in a drawing before.

More Gestures in Black and White

Leaning Forward - Gesture Drawing
22 December 2012
Conté Crayon on Paper
26cm x 28cm (10.25" x 11")

The gesture drawing in black and white exercise from the Natural Way to Draw (see Gesture in Black and White) has caused me some problems.

Eventually, I realised the main difficulty was that I was trying to use the crayon like a pencil. The exercise became more fun when I stopped expecting the precision of a pencil and started to enjoy the different types of marks the crayon can make.

Shake It - Gesture Drawing
2 January 2013
Conté Crayon on Paper
28cm x 40cm (11" x 16")

For me, it helps to decide whether a line is going to be curved or straight - which fits in nicely with the ideas from the Straight and Curved Lines exercise (Straight and Curved Lines).

Hand On Hip - Gesture Drawing
6 January 2013
Conté Crayon on Paper
26.5cm x 39.5cm (6.5" x 15.5")

It seems the exercises that have caused me the most difficulty are frequently the ones I’ve learn the most from and have ended up being my favourites.

A Change of Plans

Unwinding
Watercolour, Gouache and Permanent Marker on Paper
18cm x 25.5cm (7" x 10")

I was planning to spend Saturday painting some Christmas cards and finishing the painting of Coverack Harbour that I started back in September (see Preparations for Coverack Harbour ). Instead, I was sidetracked into painting the picture at the top of this post.

On Friday evening, Elaine posed for three 5-minute Straight and Curved Lines studies. One of the drawings really appealed to me because a small number of lines captured the gesture of the pose and there was an interesting contrast in the way Elaine’s straight right leg crossed her curved left leg. On Saturday morning, I was more attracted to painting a simplified version of the drawing than to the activities I had planned, so we will have to buy Christmas cards.

Sustained Study - Section 20 - Contour Drawing
11 November 2012
Graphite Pencil on Tracing Paper
38cm x 37cm (15" x 14.5")

This is the contour drawing from the sustained study for Section 20. It is the closest I’ve come to a likeness of Elaine in these exercises. It is a shame it is on a tatty piece of tracing paper.