Here’s a charcoal sketch I did at Atelier class this evening – spotlight on a plaster cast of Anne’s brother. I may have to add some digital colour tomorrow. He looks a little ‘Douglas Bader’ in style I think. A 1940s English look.
a Douglas Bader style
I couldn’t resist adding brighter colours and pushing the exposure and making this image (from below) more vibrant. I’m in favour of pictures that give off an energy.
More Pop Dancing
Life drawing club started up again today after the summer break. Keeping it simple, I only took my sketchpad and charcoal with me – and a soft eraser of course (invaluable).
I think I’m getting better. I took the photo with my phone- as always it casts a blue tint over what should be cream/white, but I quite like that.
Nude in Charcoal on paper, September
I’ve been sick. iPhone painting is perfect when propped on cushions in bed. No paint, no mess, very speedy. Here is a quick sketch done on the Brushes app of a man in a sort of ‘funnel neck’ jacket.
digital pencil sketch
This is my first try at doing a sketch of my father Sir Peter Hall, during rehearsals- a process he adores and where he has spent so much of his life. I was grappling with the difficulty of making his likeness as he gesticulated and talked with the actors, consulted the text, perhaps now and then referring to the fight designer or stage designer across the room, or the Shakespeare scholar in the corner. For his part he was grappling with the difficulty of staging Henry IV P2. It’s just a little sketch – not perfect. But I think it conveys something of him in the thick of his creative process.
Peter Hall in rehearsal
I did this sketch with water-soluble crayons. It’s something like a dancer’s face, and reminds me of L’Après Midi D’un Faune. A sort of Art Nouveau confection with a crown of climbing vines and faraway green eyes.
Faune
If you’re all bent out of shape for one reason or another, an hour sketching in the park, under the bright light of the spring sun with the green grass glinting and the cherry blossoms bouncing in the breeze – all this will sort you out.
Here is half of the sketch I did this morning in just such circumstances. I was going to call it Bent Out of Shape, but why dwell on the negative? Thank goodness for the beautiful parks of London. I didn’t have any soft willow charcoal with me, so I used a hard charcoal pencil and a blue chalk.
Park Bench Sketch
This was my first time using Conté crayons this morning. They were invented in 1795 in France, and mostly come in sanguine, black and white. They’re natural pigments mixed with clay and graphite. I didn’t quite have the right paper, but it’s a start.
Sanguine and black conte sketch
Today at Drawing Club we had a new model. He’s going to pose for us over the course of 3 weeks.
This means we can work over a longer period using oil paints. I’ve never used oils before, so this week I just used my water soluble pencils and pastels, and next week I’ll take the plunge and buy some oils.
So I guess this is (part of ) a sketch before I embark on my first oil painting. Embarking is the right word: from the Italian ‘barca’ meaning ship. I’m sailing into new territory !
Male nude
A quick sketch, done with my fingers as usual, this time using the Vellum app on my iPhone.
The Vellum app has 3 settings – graphite, ink, and scratch – and I used the ink one, which I love.
It’s of nobody in particular, just a type of lady that you see around the borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Kensington Lady
