woohoo I have finished my 30 hours of blind drawings. I have to stay it is quite a relief, although I do have a slight sense of achievement as well!
I do think though that these last drawings are the worst, maybe that’s just because I had built it up in my head, my 2 final hours! I must of though something amazing was going to happen, but seriously I think it is because 30 hours is a long time to do any type of drawing and it is definitely time to move on.
Looking back I have found this task useful and think it was definitely a good start to my drawing project – ‘Learning to draw (Again)’. Its kind of been like a long warm up to the marathon head, and I’m certainly warmed up and raring to go!
Almost there now! yep I have completed 28 hours of my 30 hours of blind drawings, so thought I would give a quick update of how things have been going with a few select pictures.
Sometimes I have found it quite relaxing but sometimes it has been the exact opposite! I have drawn my boots many many times, although there is only so many times I can draw them! Therefore I have drawn anything and everything, things around my home, people on the bus, at a portrait class and so on,I have come across a particular favorite though which is making drawings from fashion magazines! – maybe something to look into in the future.
My confidence with drawing seems to be improving already and at least I’m back to holding my pencil properly – rather than gripping it as though I have some great fear of it. I have been working quite small though, A5 to A4, which I am finding a little bit restrictive, which means its time to start working bigger for the last couple of hours.
So with that quick update here are some pictures and I’m off to complete my 2 hours………
To begin my drawing project I have been doing a series of ‘blind’ drawings – as in not looking at the paper at all whilst completing the drawing, concentrating totally on the subject.
Before I started these drawings I was flicking though ‘Experimental drawing’ by Robert Kaupelis, looking at some of the suggestions, but nothing really grabbed me, until I came across a sentence stating that,
‘…I am suggesting to you is that your first 20 or 30 hours of contour drawing is to be done completely blind.’ (Kaupelis)
This I took as a challenge!
So far I have completed 17 hours of these drawings, some of which are interesting to say the least. It will be interesting to see what they look like by the end of the 30 hours!
I have found that on some (probably many, if I’m honest) of these drawings I am quite lazy. The idea is to make slow drawings, ‘look at your subject, one line or form at a time, and force yourself to believe that your pencil is touching the form you’re attempting to draw’. I definitely know that I don’t do this sometimes. The other thing I notice is the way I hold my pencil some times, which is definitely not good, gripping it to hard, like writing with a Biro in a way that I don’t have much control over the pressure applied.
So at least so for I have learnt somethings!
Even though I loathe to put them up, here is a selection of the drawings I have made…….
I have found this week rather interesting, you see I have made a few changes in my life recently, I left my part time job (where I had worked for 11 years!) and this has been replaced with more hours life modelling (at the college where I used to study) and freeing up more time to get on with my art work. So I suppose I’ve been adjusting a bit in the last couple of weeks, but what I have found interesting is listening in to the drawing classes. The classes I sit for are mostly first years (degree level), so it is quite fitting with my project at the moment, as I am revisiting the beginning of drawing, and this is what is being taught. I am finding it very useful as even though I can remember the basics of these lessons, they were 4 years ago! It is almost like I am getting a second change to partake in these (probably) most important lessons from the degree.
It has all left my head swimming with ideas…….
Well I actually started to do some drawing!!!!!!!
OK they didn’t go particularly well but that’s not the point, the point is I’ve got past the blockage and started some new work. I did some drawings of some old glass bottles, but they just weren’t working out, but I think it has a lot to do with the subject matter. Even though I love the bottles, they’re just not really a ‘me’ subject when it comes to my work. I originally started to draw some marbles (and I still do want to work with this subject matter), but they are just two simple to work with for the minute. To really delve into, and expand my drawing practice I need to work with something a bit more complex to draw, and off course something that keeps me interested, something I can really get my teeth into. So I think for know I’m going to use my beloved Doc Martens, and you never know, I may even have some work to put up soon…….
