More sketches

Mike Watson did a great job displaying my sketch books at the "Weight" exhibition.  Here are few more
sketches from those books.  Some of my sketch books have a theme like faces or yoga poses.  Some are just random images I come across.  The one below is from an old masters painting. 

Photos from the Exhibition

The exhibition looks great!  This photo shows one of the sketches and drawing 1.  Mike Watson did a great job hanging everything.  I decided to display the drawings like Japanese scrolls.  They are not framed, but hung by magnets on pieces of foam core board.  The look is different from the standard display.  Remember not to touch them!  The oil from your hands will damage the paper.  I was unsure if a magnet could hold the weight of the paper, but you can get very strong magnets.  The first set I ordered were so strong that I could not get them apart.  So I ordered some with less attraction power.

Demonstrations on Black Paper

The above images were part of the Demonstrations exhibition. These drawings are all pastel on black paper. Sorry about the shine on the paper; I should use better paper.

Mike Watson wrote this as a gallery statement for the exhibit, so I thought I would share it with you.

The human figure has been the subject of drawings since prehistoric times. Figure drawing is an exercise in drawing the human body in its various shapes and positions. “Life drawing” is the process of drawing the human figure from observation of a live model. Figure drawing is arguably the most difficult subject an artist commonly encounters, and entire classes are dedicated to the subject. The human figure is one of the most enduring themes in the visual arts, and figure drawing can be applied to portraiture, cartooning and comic book illustration, sculpture, medical illustration, and other fields that use depictions of the human form. Figure drawing can be done very simply, as in gesture drawing, or in greater detail, using charcoal, pencil or other drawing tools. If pigment is used, the process may be called figure painting.

Figure drawing instruction is an element of most Fine Art and Illustration programs. Instructors specifically seek to avoid the sort of models preferred by fashion photographers, seeking more “realistic” examples and to avoid any implication of sexual objectification. Instructors often favor models of particular body types based on the unique contours or surface textures they provide. Life Drawing aids the artist in that it is one of the key methods of observation and seeing is a critical part of all art and design.

This exhibit focuses on the variety of techniques that instructors must ‘demo’ in the classroom setting. These pieces are intentionally incomplete, as their purpose is to instruct in the moment and they are not created to be viewed as a completed piece of art.

It is critical to show this type of work so that there is an understanding about the initial, principal, structure upon which all life drawing and for that matter all good design is based. The work is immediate, often taking only 10-20 minutes to create, although quick, these drawings and this method of instruction effectively, visually communicates the elements and principles of design to the students.

Demonstrations Exhibition

The image above is one a did a few years ago at a creativity seminar with Andy Braitman. This figure study was done on 300lb arches paper. First, I brushed on watercolor paint with a 2 inch brush. Finally, I drew into the wet paper with white and black charcoal pencils. I love the drips! I have taught figure drawing for the past nine years and I show this technique to my students during final weeks of class.

During July, an exhibition at the Art Institute of Charlotte called: Demonstrations includes this and other drawings my me and the other figure drawing instructors. The drawings range from quick one minute gesture drawings to longer more details poses. Stop by the Art Institute and see the show! The show includes drawings by these great artists: Mike Watson, Rea Legrone, Roger Hicks, & Don Michael.