Circles of Light

Friday, 18 January 2019

Portraits 2: pencil & self

Continuing from last week's session, we looked at self portraiture. Those scary things where the subject is sometimes staring weirdly at the viewer. We're in good company here...

Stanley Spencer, self portrait 1926, pencil on paper (30.5 x 17.8 cm)
from "Head First" portraits from the Arts Council Collection 1998

Self portraiture is an excellent way to practise portraiture, not least because your subject is available when you are.

I had brought along some of my B Unit* self portraits as a starting point which, I guess inevitably led me to tell a little of my art adventure from "art is not for me" to where I am now.

I had planned for this session to be about colour in portraiture but after my impromptu talk, I decided to continue with observational drawings in pencil. The mirrors we used were varied. Sensible folk used traditional, rectangular mirrors - one of us didn't.

Not an easy thing to do. Very well done everyone!

Dorothy

Mike

Monica

Christine & demo

*The B Unit was an accredited evening course delivered by Blackpool & the Fylde College. The classes were held one evening a week through the academic year. The highest mark was equivalent to 70% of an A Level.

pencil on paper, 1995 (50 x 42 cm)

pencil on paper, 1995 (50 x 42 cm)
[Why would anyone wear an aran jumper for a self portrait!]

Friday, 11 January 2019

Portraits 1: pencil & peers - resemblance

Over the next few weeks we're going to be taking a closer look at portraiture.

By unpicking how to read visual art, we will be able to piece together how to make a depiction of a person using a variety of visual language.

This week we looked at resemblance. We captured likeness through observational drawing using pencil.

Much easier to say than do.

Below are the images of the group and at the bottom are some very quick sketches made at the end of the session.

Well done everyone!

Next week we will introduce colour to a more familiar subject.

Derrick by Dorothy

Monica by Derrick

Dorothy by Mike

Mike by Monica

quick sketch: Derrick by Dorothy

quick sketches: Mike by Monica

Friday, 14 December 2018

square format: abstraction enhanced by colour

The Task

working from the closest still life...

in pencil, draw it quickly
repeat
find a square composition within second drawing
draw a different area of still life
find a square composition within third drawing
redraw
select an area to add a single colour
In a new drawing select an area of the still life. Before drawing, consider; it will be square and you will apply one colour to it.

Simples! - well, not really but the results are brilliant, see below.

Well done everyone!

Christine

Derrick

Dorothy

Mike

Monica

Farewell for now - Art Circle returns 10 January 2019

Friday, 7 December 2018

lino cutting without the lino

It's that time of year folks - snowy scenes, snuggling inside and seasons greetings.

So, to help the Christmas preparations along, we combined the start of a printing process with festive images.

The results follow and a brief "How to do it" is at the end of this page.

Well done everyone - lovely work and we all survived without bandages!

Mike

Derrick

Monica

Dorothy

Christine: demo pieces follow

The Task

materials & equipment: paper, pencil, mount-board, oil pastels or children's wax crayons, craft knife

on paper make a pencil drawing of image [The simpler the better. This is the time to adjust image.]
draw onto mount-board
using craft knife and without going all the way through the board, cut around outline
peal away top surface of board in the areas not part of the drawing (rubbing of my demo piece in image 1)
take a rubbing to determine next stage
Continue removing other areas and taking rubbings until your satisfied with the result.
Once happy with image, experiment with colour

Tips
Use wrapping paper & Christmas cards to give you ideas for images.
If making Christmas cards, the size of the piece should be determined by the envelope you intend to use.

Enjoy!