I was thrilled that Colleen Duffley selected one of my drawings to illustrate Studio b.’s figure drawing announcement this week. For a map to Studio b, input 30 N. Charles St., Alys Beach, FL 32413.
Author: Joan Vienot
Opposite Points of View: Figure Drawing at Studio b.
I was a few minutes late getting to figure drawing at Studio b. this week. All the “good spots” were taken so I set up my easel in the last available place.
But then, what a treat, to find that the way the light was coming in through the window and backlighting the model, he was fairly glowing, for every pose. My “less-than-perfect” easel location gave me poses with silver linings.
For this pose, I drew the strong highlights with white on gray paper, and then worked in the dark values with black, leaving the gray paper showing for some of the midtones.
Heather Clements was drawing on the opposite side of the room, so her poses were almost completely brightly lit, with the shadow pattern of the window bars criss-crossing the model. One of her drawings is at right. This is one of the fun aspects of figure drawing — the same pose, drawn at the same time, will be markedly different from one artist to the next. The multiple points of view provide a more complete appreciation of the form and the conditions experienced by the artists as a group.
Figure Drawing with my niece Caitlin
This week I had the pleasure of drawing beside my talented niece, Caitlin. She and my two sisters and their husbands are vacationing here near Seacrest Beach this week. Caitlin is studying art at Colorado State University. Her drawing is pictured at right.
The figure drawing session at Studio b. was well attended, with 12 or 13 people drawing, and one making fabric art. It is always such a pleasure, working beside talented and enthusiastic artists.
We continued with our focus on creating depth. The instructor, Heather Clements, had the model position herself so that each pose presented the artists with some part of the figure that required foreshortening.
The poses were longer. It’s interesting how much of a difference there is between a 15-minute pose and a 25- or 30-minute pose. The shorter poses force me to work faster than I otherwise would, so I certainly understand the value of the short poses. But it seems like it takes me 14 of the 15 minutes to get the basic gesture correct, so a 30-minute pose feels like pure luxury, giving much more of a sense of accomplishment.
Since my niece is interested in fabric arts, it was serendipitous that LaRhonda Whitmire came to our session to work on a fabric piece she is doing. She dyed her silk on a dropcloth on the floor, just wanting to be around other creative people while she worked. I think this is the idea Colleen Duffley had when she thought up Studio b., a venue where creative people can meet and multiply each others’ energy.
Guest Artist at Studio b: Rae Broyles
The guest artist series at Studio b is such a treat. This week we were privileged to have Rae Broyles as our guest artist for the figure drawing session. Rae is a likable, enthusiastic, and engaged professional artist and instructor. In between instruction and critiquing, she drew along with us. Our new model was irresistible.
Rae Broyles will be presenting a workshop on encaustic painting at Studio b. on July 10, 2010. She showed us some of her work, and talked to us about the process of painting with hot colored wax, scraping, scratching, and re-painting.
Rae started our figure drawing session with warm-up gesture drawings using wax crayons, with the model changing poses every 30 seconds. Then we did a few 5-minute poses, and then some 15-minute poses. I think the final pose was 30 minutes, with a break midway through. We started each drawing with light-value colors, and then refined it with darker value colors. I drew with the wax crayons up until the end, and then I switched to white nupastel on black charcoal paper.
We drew in the pool courtyard at Studio b., with the pool behind the model, the water features providing the background sound. Colleen Duffley, the owner of Studio b., offered wine or beer or water to the artists, and spent a little time with each one, talking while they worked, or just complimenting and encouraging. Then she tried out some sparkling lights in the pool, getting ready for the studio’s part in the annual Digital Graffiti event which will be throughout the village of Alys Beach this-coming Saturday night.
The whole setting was very intimate, perfect for what we were doing. There is nothing like being absolutely comfortable during the creative process.
Figure Drawing: The Illusion of Depth, continued
We continued to work with creating the illusion of depth in our figure drawing session at Studio b. again this week. Instructor Heather Clements reviewed the 4 ways we had been practicing: size and perspective or foreshortening, degree of development, Mach bands, and value or color contrast. Our model held a long pose at the end of the session, and I focused on her face in my final drawing.
I love when a face shows elements of one’s life, giving a glimpse of the joys and laughter over the years, and sometimes the pain and fatigue. This model has a novel in her face. I wish I had the skill to do it justice.
I drew slowly on this night. From the beginning of the session to the end I was frustrated with how quickly the poses were over. I had difficulty clearing my head. This week marks the beginning of tourist season here in sunny Northwest Florida, when my pool service business, my day job, starts occupying my mind 24/7.
The Illusion of Depth
| This week Studio b. instructor Heather Clements gave us the exercise of creating illusion of depth. She asked us to exaggerate it, to make the foreground appear much closer than the parts of the model that were further away. Perspective of course is the most obvious method of creating the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional plane. The parts of the subject that are closer are much larger in proportion to the parts that are farther away. In figure drawing, perspective already is exaggerated, because the model is in close proximity to the artist. |
| The highest contrast of values, and if working in color, the brightest colors, also tend to advance toward the viewer, while midtones and duller colors tend to recede. Purposefully muting the lights and darks will cause that part of the subject to appear farther away, and purposefully heightening the black-white value contrast and brightening the colors of the near portions will advance the closer part of the subject. |
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The degree of development also creates the illusion of depth. Highly developed areas advance, whereas silhouetted shapes with perhaps hazy edges, recede.
This is the second week Heather mentioned Mach bands, an optical illusion causing forward edges to appear lighter against darker values behind. This optical illusion occurs even though the local value does not change — our eyes do it for us. If the artist will exaggerate Mach bands, that too will help give the illusion of depth. The examples in this post exaggerate depth. |
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Figure Sculpture Workshop at Studio b.
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Karen Cope continued her Sculpt Across America presentation at Studio b. in Alys Beach, Florida, May 15 and 16, with two 5-hour days of a figure sculpting workshop. Since my preferred mode of expression is drawing, I had to look at the subject in completely new ways. I gained a much greater understanding of form. As with every class at Studio b., the energy was intense. The instructor’s extraordinary skills were evident both in her teaching and the samples she had brought with her. Everyone experienced a fair degree of success. I was fairly pleased with many aspects of my end result, despite my only previous figure sculpting experience being the 3-hour session two days prior. |
 My attempt, full figure at left
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 My attempt, from behind
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For me, though, the true pleasure was in the process. Karen taught us to add small “notes” of clay to build out the form. I am right-handed, but I caught myself using my left hand a lot of the time. I wonder what that was about. At left is the creation of a fellow student, Nancy Nichols Williams, who also regularly attends the weekly figure drawing sessions at Studio b. |
 Nancy Nichols Williams
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Guest Artist at Studio b.: Karen Cope, Sculpt Across America
| I know very little about sculpture. When I was studying art in college, I took only the one required sculpture class. My area of emphasis was drawing and I also studied painting, but the three-dimensional arts intimidated me. So when I learned that Colleen Duffley had invited a sculptor to give workshops at Studio b. the 2nd week of May, I was thrilled for the exposure to the community, but not so excited about participating. That is, until I found out she would be doing figure and portrait sculpture workshops. I knew there would be an immediate application to my figure drawing efforts, so as soon as I found out the workshop dates and times, I signed up for all available. |  |
| The instructor is Karen Cope. Karen is doing a Sculpt Across America tour, offering workshops as she goes. She is an extraordinarily gifted sculptor and a great teacher. |  |
| The night before last we had an introduction to her language and approach, “The Speed At Which Form Turns,” and last night we had our first clay-in-our-hands session with 3 hours of figure sculpting. 10 people participated. |  |
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My effort was passable, given that my only other effort at sculpting, in college, was carving a rock out of plaster of paris, which found its home in the recycle bin as soon as it was graded. The bearded model was infinitely patient with us, sitting for 3 hours in 20 minute stretches. I made his legs about 3/4 as long as they really are — proportions were obviously a challenge for me. But I think I captured the general lean and weight of the various masses. |
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Figure Drawing from Warm-Up to Extended Pose
I arrived at the Figure Drawing session fairly exhausted this week, being in the middle of teaching a 2½ day crash course for one of my businesses (a certification course for operators of public swimming pools). Counting me, only 3 artists were there at Studio b., plus the instructor, Heather Clements, and the owner, Colleen Duffley. The model was unable to make it, so Heather modeled for us without disrobing.
It takes me a while to “learn” a new figure’s shape and proportions. I focused on contours the whole night. In this post I have decided to show examples of my work throughout the whole session, from initial 1-minute and 2-minute gestures to the final 20-minute line drawings. Clicking on the picture will give an enlarged view.
As usual, though I arrived exhausted, I left energized by the thrill of expression.
Framing My Art
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Today I took some of my drawings to June Holm Art and Frame Atelier to be matted and framed. June is a talented and accomplished pastel artist and instructor, as well as a framer, in my home area of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. I will choose three of the framed drawings to put in the Cultural Arts Association Member Tent at the nationally-recognized annual ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival which this year will be in Seaside, FL, on May 8 and 9. All but one of the drawings I’m framing have been posted in previous blogs. The application fee to have work shown in the Member Tent includes a commitment to volunteer 5 hours at the festival. I have volunteered at the festival a few times before, the first couple of years back in the ’80’s when it was called the Grayton Beach Fine Arts Festival, and also when it was held at Eden State Gardens, and one year I had the privilege of serving as one of the jurors for the submitted art. |
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It was after seeing some of my art on the Figure Drawing Wall at Studio b. that I decided to put some drawings in the Member Tent. I had a hard time choosing the three that I will show, so I took several extra drawings to June to be framed. I think it will be easier to choose 3 when I see them professionally presented. I find assessing my own work much more difficult than assessing someone else’s, because my judgment of my own work is colored by how much I value the process and the learning that happened in the production of the piece. Since Heather Clements, our figure drawing instructor at Studio b., has offered so many interesting exercises taking us “outside of our comfort zone,” I have produced a number of drawings that I find very interesting and very different, but I’m not sure how other people will see them. So I’ll choose between those and the other pieces drawn from a more classical approach, being conflicted about whether to show some pieces I find more interesting, or to show work that might get compliments.