Stuart

Master Of Life

Dec 8, 2015Stuart5 Comments

Carla: Stuart, Torsten isn’t coming today. Go get the stuff. Here’s the key.

[Stuart goes and gets the stuff]

Model:Ok, then. What would you like?
Stuart: (being as he got the stuff and also has a big mouth) OK, we’ll start with 3 times 5 minutes to warm up …

[and so the evening begins, with a new “Master Of Life” … me, me, me]

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[Two of my fountain pens ran dry while drawing tonight. A3, 190g paper.]

Carla: Stuart, take the key back to the restaurant and put the chain across the parking area.

[Ok, I must admit, Carla had her hand bandaged and I still have a big mouth.]

Don’t forget to check out my gestures.

blauw blau blue bleu

Dec 1, 2015Stuart2 Comments

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I’m not sure, what to think of these pics from tonight’s Life Class.
Lamy fountain pen on 190gsm, A3, and Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer pencil.
I’m sure my pen has moved more fluidly on past evenings, but building up tone with the Albrecht Dürer pencil was very therapeutic, even if not always too easy, what with the lighting conditions we have in our Life Class room.
It’s interesting to see that I only have 1 1/2 hours of drawings but the evening is 2 1/4 hours long. So we spend 45 minutes chatting and relaxing somewhere along the line.

Sick Left Hands

Nov 28, 2015Nov 28, 2015Stuart2 Comments

[Sorry, Ed (author of Six Left Hands)]

Back in the times before Paris … <interlude> … you know, I follow a few great sketching sites on wordpress … and one of those are Suhita Shirodkar’s sketchaway … </interlude> well, a few days before Paris, Suhita published a blog entry with a tonal study of her left hand.
And I thought, hey, I’ve got one of those (i.e. left hand and even a blog, too). Here’s Suhita’s left hand: hand_shadows.jpg.

So I continued running a few days with 30(!) second gesture drawings of other peoples’ hands… Then Paris happened.

Yeah, well, anyway, and then Ed published his six lefties and I thought, Stuart, the time is ripe again, are your hand skills up to scratch? … do a few more quick gesture drawings and give it a try.

Today, in every free 20 minute slot, I jumped to the challenge. Lamy fountain pen in hand. Sometimes standing in front of the mirror. So some lefties look like righties. Enjoy.

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And here are some of the quick gesture sketches. You can see more of these gesture sketches in the gesture sub-menu.

Snow, Rain and Life

Nov 24, 2015StuartLeave a comment

[Stuart arrives at Life Class]
[Outside it’s raining, snowing, and sleeting]
Richard: Hi Stuart, the tutor called, he’ll be late, but the model’s already here.
Stuart: No heaters? No Life equipment?
Model (teeth chattering): I need those heaters, I’m soaking, need to get out of these clothes.
Stuart: Well, bad luck, get on that stage now … 10 minutes ok for you?

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[Tutor arrives]
Tutor: Ok, hi folks, let’s do a pose and then I’ve got an idea for you.
[Heaters are set up]

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Tutor: Hey, the next half an hour, we’re drawing blind.

Stuart: Yeeees, this is what I’m talking about. What a great experience! The result isn’t important, but the act of looking at the model becomes so intense.
Tutor: Now see if you can use anything you learnt in the past half an hour.

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Stuart: Well, I’m not complaining, that was really fun. Used my Lamy Safari “F” nib, Blue/Black ink, in a rough surface, 110gsm, A4 sketch book. The paper really soaks up that ink.

Life Class Impressions

Nov 18, 2015Stuart2 Comments

Another evening and an attempt with a slightly different tool set:

Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “big brush” COLD GREY
Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “B” COLD GREY
Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “S” BLACK

Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils

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The “big brush” was a bit unhandy and hard to control for me. Later in the evening I moved back to the Albrecht Dürer pencils, which I enjoyed working with. It’s time for me to return to the daily gestures.

The Sustained Study

Nov 10, 2015StuartLeave a comment

Before I left for Life Class I picked up my copy of Kimon Nicoleides’ “The Natural Way To Draw”. I read through the section “The Sustained Study” (section 13, pretty far into the book). OK, I’m not going to see any sustained poses in the Life Class, but this section mentions:

“Make a decision as to what you will consider the main source of light [..] and attempt to use only the one set of shadows which indicates the one source of light.” – Kimon Nicoleides

So today I thought, I’d go with my wax crayons and Albrecht Dürer colour pencils and give this shadow and light source choosing method a go.

In Class, the teacher gave us some additional ideas to make things more interseting. We were to add lines, boxes or whatever to create the sense of environment, perspective and play with it a little.

The wax crayons are not easy to control once the tip has rubbed down, which is pretty much straight away. But it was fun, if a little challenging to try a new tool out.

Fun and Games at Life Class

Nov 3, 2015Nov 3, 2015Stuart2 Comments

7 pm, Life class:

Teacher: OK, let’s do something fun. You’re only allowed 20 lines, you have 5 minutes.
Stuart: That’s long. 5 minutes … I may have cheated, stopped counting my lines.
Teacher: … and for the last 5 minutes, switch the tool from thin to thick.
Stuart: OK, I’ll switch to wax crayons.

Teacher: More fun. Now you’re only allowed 20 horizontal lines.
Stuart: … but I can’t see any
Teacher: Yes, and you may also fill in shadow shapes, if you like.
Stuart: … like this?
Teacher: … now five minutes again, and then an additional 5 to “complete” the drawing as you wish.
Stuart: … ok, those wax crayons are coming in handy.
Teacher: Now you have 15 minutes for a pose. Try out the stuff you’ve just taught yourself

Teacher: One normal pose.
Stuart: Hey, foreshortening is my middle name!
Teacher: Continuously changing pose. Stick to the same drawing, the model changes the pose set-up every few minutes.
Stuart: … like this?

Teacher: Good night! Don’t forget to sign the attendance list.

Safari Nudes

Oct 20, 2015Stuart2 Comments

Back from evening figure drawing class. And I have also been up in the mornings, before going to work and drawing 30 minutes worth of gestures. (To see them, CLICK HERE).

The nude pics below are done with my Lamy Safari, F-Nib, Royal Blue, on A3 190g paper, and then a little bit of Pentel waterbrush.

Topic today was “feet and hands in relation to the face/head”.

Tea time

Oct 8, 2015May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

Spent the day in town with my wife and my Polychromos pencils.
Packed in a bunch of browns today, too (sorry, I just see it was ochres: Brown Ochre, Burnt Ochre and Light Ochre, and a Van Dyke Brown).

In the Tea Room after our Syrian meatballs and cold starters, I signalled to my wife it was reading time for her as I retrieved my pencils and Leuchtturm1917 DINA6 sketchbook from my mens’ purse. I’d decided to attempt capturing my last cup of tea.

I began with the background (negative space), outlining the cup and saucer with Van Dyke Brown, Scarlet Lake (red Teapot in background) and Burnt Carmine. Then I went for the shading with Light Grey (too light) and Sky Blue. Had trouble with the gold plated rims. The tea itself was built up slowly, whereby I had noticed the cup’s rim reflecting in it and that the colour had a somewhat consistent shade, but still managed to change tones in places.

What I can say is, it is simpler for me to work with the dry medium at the moment when out and about. I have noticed in one of the books currently on the top of my pile (Tommy Kane Sketches The World: An Excuse to Draw) that the author also seems to use coloured pencils a lot.

I haven’t turned my back completely on watercolours yet. I certainly heard more “Aaahh!” and “Ummm!”-ing when using the watercolours while in town.

Monschau in the Eifel

Oct 7, 2015May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

We spent a few days in Monschau.
I took along

Polychromos colour pencils
Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
Twelve Colman half pan watercolours
Da Vinci mixed hair paint brush, size 6
A Copic 0.3 fine liner
Small Moleskine watercolour sketch book
DIN A6 Leuchtturm1917 sketch book (190gsm A6)
… and a few other little things (pens, pencils, sharpener)

Well, it was too much. Perhaps it was the weather’s fault (mostly drizzly) or all the walking we did. I’m considering only taking one medium (probably dry) next time. Having so many possibilities, I felt overwhelmed, as if somebody was expecting too much of me. Had even taken some cheap paper and my George Bridgman “Bible” with me to do some practicing for figure drawing.

2 sketches came out of this trip.

A sketch of my wife reading at the Rur-Cafe. (Watercolours in Moleskine, 20 minutes) .. When I look at this, I realise I may have been watching too much rugby lately. No, seriously, I’d decided to paint my wife reading, and then her “salad on the side” arrived (what am I trying to say here? … I hope my wife doesn’t read this blog. Lena, are you reading this?).

And a sketch from the Kräutergarten on the slopes overlooking Monschau. Here you see Monschau castle residing above the old town centre. (Polychromos pencils in Leuchtturm1917) (20 minutes, with some colour “depth-corrections” in the following days.)

The last few hours, we spent on the Hohes Venn (High Fens). Beautiful yellow-browns with some violett-purple hints of bilberry bushes, ponds reflecting the complete bright-greyness of the sky. I’ll attempt to capture that tomorrow from memory. Some watercolour techniques could come in handy.

When we leave for our next trip, this Sunday, I’m just taking dry mediums with me: