Rocanini show and pencils and war...

     "The Old Camera" is one of my paintings on show at Rocanini Coffee Shop in Steveston. It was painted from a model who is wearing my yellow leather gloves. I thought about calling it "The Yellow Gloves". The gloves were bought in Paris over 50 years ago. Nowadays they mostly stay in a drawer but back then, gloves were worn more frequently. They are beautifully made with an interesting cut-out and braided join at the wrist.
     The show will be on until June 1st and has paintings by Bonita Ruttkay, Margreth Fry, Penny Talbot and me. My "White Bouquet" is there too. If you are in Steveston, drop in to have a look.
     With gloves from Paris, it might be a suitable time to continue with more pencil history. Conte' is a name familiar to artists as we often draw with conte' crayons - a form of harder pastel - but there is a real person behind the name. Nicolas-Jacques Conte' was an officer in Napoleon's army. Britain's naval blockade prevented the import of pencils from Cumberland. In 1795, Conte' invented a combination of clay and graphite for a cost-effective pencil. They could be made in degrees of hardness- something we accept as a "given" now, but it wasn't always so. So, a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars was that France manufactured its own pencils. Then conte' sticks were developed with using iron oxide, carbon black and titanium dioxide, clay and a binder to produce sticks in black, white, grey, and shades of red-brown.  These mix better on paper than any other hard pastels and have become a staple for many artists. The square profile makes for a more drawing style where soft pastels yield bolder strokes for a more painterly style. Georges Seurat used conte' to produce many of his studies. It is easy to find black, white, grey and shades of sanguine in most art stores but Conte' also used to make a full range of  colours. I have some I am guarding carefully as I haven't seen any in years. I remember seeing a whole stand of a hundred or more different colours in Conte' in an art store in Europe.  How I wish I had *that* in my studio!

Cultural Days

How did we get near the end of September so soon? Some of it whirled by in preparation for the Grand Prix of Art Steveston, where we started out painting in the rain this year. Now we are up to Cultural Days and Richmond Artists Guild is doing a Life Drawing demonstration in the foyer of Richmond Art Centre this Friday evening. We will have a clothed model in one pose and the general public will be invited to watch or try drawing. I plan on worked in coloured pastels (conte' crayon) so I may produce something like this one. This was Helene in a hat with a veil. We have a different model on Friday night so I may very well post the results.

The importance of drawing-

Robert Genn's latest newsletter talks about drawing and its importance to artists. I totally agree. Life Drawing, especially, really helps keep up a person's skills in observation as well as in drawing. Lately, I have been drawing in three colours- in conte' or in charcoal pencils - black, white and sienna- to work on capturing tone values. I do them on a medium tint paper. This is a fairly "classical" way of drawing and I'm looking at realism, not so much interpretation. I'm just about finished the current pad of paper and I think I'll go to something more freewheeling for a while... more colour, playing more with variety in line, etc. Just a change to shake things up but the same actual *drawing* challenge is there- capturing a pose, the foreshortening of a limb, the way light falls on the body... The illustration here is one in coloured conte' of a 30-minute pose in the last Drawing Marathon.

Life Drawing variables

Life Drawing can change from group to group. In one group we always start with 5 one-minute poses, then five two-minute poses and then a four-times-five pose in which the model poses for five minutes then rotates 90 degrees to assume the same pose- until a full 360 degree turn has been made. That's a good one for improving drawing ability from all angles. Then, in that group, it is on to 10 minute and 20 minute poses - so lots of variety to the session. In another group, we have a long pose -usually one and a half hours, after the "warm-ups". Of course, this is broken up with breaks for the model. Sometimes this is draped, or semi-draped. This pose gives some a chance to paint - or, for me, a chance to get out the coloured conte' crayons and do a pastel. I'm not a fast painter but I love the chance to work in colour and to have time to work on a "likeness".

Milford in costume

Today was a good drawing day. We had Milford in a costume he had created. He looked somewhat like a cavalier. He is a very creative guy - has been both a boxer and a dancer, had a radio show, does creative designs- and today, made a terrific subject. After ten warm-up drawings, we spent the rest of the session on the one pose - with breaks, of course. I had fun again with my bigger box of conte' crayons. I thought the face turned out especially well. Maybe, when some other projects are out of the way, I will do an acrylic painting.

A new box of colours!

Most people remember the beginning of a school year and the excitement of a new box of crayons. For artists, this excitement doesn't end with the end of school years. Every new tube of paint, different pen or new media is a fresh thrill. I just got a new box of 48 colours of conte' crayons. I often draw quick poses at Life Drawing in sepia or black conte' and I've used some other colours for long poses. However, this is my very first box of 48 colours. It came in the mail and when I opened up the package, the colours were so enticing I felt like licking the plastic cover! Conte' is a hard pastel, rather than a soft pastel - so not so crumbly but still very nice to work with. You can blend it and layer it to build up colours. Last night, Iva posed in a costume from Bohemia. I did a 30-minute colour sketch on black paper. Why black? Well, I was at the end of one assorted pad and down to four black sheets so felt I *should* use at least one before getting a new pad. When I started, I was afraid I'd made a mistake using the black - but decided to take a "what the heck" approach and charge ahead. It was only one sheet of paper and thirty minutes of time. As I progressed,it started to turn into fun and I ended up reasonably pleased... although I must say not a great resemblance to Iva who looks much plumper than in real life. A couple of more assorted sheets plus at least one more black and then I'll open the new pad of coloured pastel paper for fresh excitement!