Wordslye

8 months have passed. Time to look back.

No … it’s time to look forward. A few things have been spooking around in my head lately, e.g. where am I going with my drawing skills. In the beginning it seems much easier, you leave your house, start pacing the front lawn, may adventure out onto the street, but basically, you don’t get far, just become more and more aquainted with your direct surroundings, perhaps you are quickly bored by the front porch and your neighbours’ houses, and can’t see the beauty in the everyday and mundane, so you take a long walk in a direction that looks promising.

This is what happened to me in February 2014. After dabbling with drawing for 6 months, I went to a life drawing class which seemed like jumping into the deep end and now most of the art books I have and drawing sessions I go to are about life drawing.

So, am I sticking to this path? Where is the path, actually? Is this a thing at all?

I started this post with “Hi, My name’s Stuart …” because I’ve just enrolled for a 6 hour life drawing class in the summer, here in Bonn. And I was wondering how I’d introduce myself, reflecting on where I am and where I want the next steps to take me.

Well, I’ve been drawing for 5 years rather regularly. On a nearly daily basis for the last 3 years now. I’m interested in people. I like drawing them. But what do I like about it? I’ve decided it’s capturing their personalities and the influence of nature (gravity, light, age). My toolset is line and contour. I enjoy scanning the person, considering cross contours and extending imaginary lines. Modelling a drawing using strong contrasts feels like a magic trick every time. It’s always exciting for me to see how the brain can be convinced to see something 3 dimensional on a flat piece of paper.

I’ve looked into colour and I’ve tried to understand cold and warm but it really upsets me how stupid I feel when trying to figure it out. A feeling I remember from back in my school days. I probably won’t give up entirely, but I’m at a point where I’ve chosen not to beat myself up about it. Instead, I’m steadily building up my knowledge of anatomy or morphology as the early 20th century fine artist would probably have said (especially Prof. Dr. Richer).

So, I’m on the track to becoming an ever more skilled life drawer. I enjoy the one or other outing in town, drawing stuff, but give me 3 hours of life drawing and I’m squeeling with pleasure. Every now and again, I’ll switch my toolset, but basically I’m a sucker for a few types of pens and 2 or 3 colours.

To end this dry post, here are my life drawing activities in Bonn and New York from the past 4 weeks.

“Hi, My name’s Stuart, I draw people, a lot.”