Love and hate - life drawing

The venue: The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art in Stockholm.

I love the female nude and I'm not happy with the male model. Basically I am not used to spending two hours solely on one painting. This picture is a good example, I spent so much time on the male that I ended up with a mess, I nearly didn't have time to paint the female so I rushed her and the illustration turned out so much better! I am just used to short poses, it's going to take a while to relax when spending more time on a painting. It's not a problem, I am enjoying every minute of my self-dissatisfaction. ;)

Watercolour of two models on A3 paper. 20130131

Portrait painting

Today I did some portrait painting at Folkkulturcentrum, in Ropsten, Stockholm. There were four, half hour poses. I was very happy with two of my sketches. It was the first time I was at Folkkulturcentrum, I enjoyed the atmosphere so I'm sure I'll be back some time soon.

30 minute portrait 

30 minute portrait 

My favourite life drawing books

My favourite life drawing books are the following: 

One is called, Henry Yan's figure drawing techniques and tips. The other book is titled, The Natural Way to Paint, by Charles Reid. Henry Yan's is based on pencil and charcoal techniques and Charles Reid focuses on pencil and watercolour techniques. I find both very inspiring and I have improved as an artist by studying them.

Henry Yan's website
Charles Reid's website

Charles Reid and Henry Yan

Life drawing at Basis

Here are a few quick sketches from my Saturday session at Basis, Stockholm. A five minute watercolour and two, two minute pencil and synthetic charcoal sketches.

Five minute watercolour sketch

Two minute sketch

Two minute sketch

Watercoloured two minute sketch

This was originally a two minute pencil sketch (20121204) on 200 gram watercolour paper. I painted it last Friday, 20130125. I was really happy with it when I did the first wash, then it became muddy as I put on further layers. I want to create a three dimensional quality without losing the vibrancy of a single wash. Live and learn!

Bill Buchman figure drawing demo

A figure drawing tutorial by Bill Buchman. I had to login to my Google account in order to see this video which was a bit annoying. I had to prove I was over eighteen, it was worth the effort, I like his approach to life drawing. He has a Vimeo video channel which is worth visiting. Click here.

First life drawing 2013

At last, I found time to go to life drawing. I've been very busy since Christmas so it was a great pleasure to sketch tonight. The session was a two hour pose, the model was a real pro, stood still as a statue. The venue was, The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art in Stockholm.

I'm happy enough with the painting, I have to get used to spending two hours on a figure, for the last two years I've been drawing quick poses. Now I want to slow down and capture more detail, the biggest problem I have is the stiffness of the pose, I need to relax. I can see from my 5 and 10 minute poses from two years ago that they were also stiff. All I need to do is lots of these two hour sessions and I should eventually find a fluid line to my art.

Click on the image if you would like to see it in a larger format.

Watercolour Nude 2013.01.24

Steve Hanks - Watercolour realist

Steve Hanks can certainly paint a nude. I admire his work, the detail is amazing, I guess he paints from photographs, it would be impossible to capture so much detail otherwise.

Steve Hanks - Female portrait nude from Art Center on Vimeo.

Steve Hanks - The beauty of women from Art Center on Vimeo.

Ted Nuttall on Facebook

I discovered the figurative watercolour artist, Ted Nuttall has a Facebook page. His latest work is published there. Visit Ted Nuttall on Facebook here. Please note that for this link to work you need to be already logged into your Facebook account.

His personal website is also worth a visit of course, click here for that.

Watercolour nude

I am not 100% happy with this effort, I got the model's back all muddy, too many strokes! The leg should also have softer edges to suggest depth. Another learning experience that caused frustration but at the same time satifaction. Nothing is straight forward and simple for long when one watercolours.



Watercolour nude study from photograph

Improved Scans

I got a scanner to work. Much better than the iPhone! Looking forward to getting back to Stockholm next week for some life drawings sessions.



Watercolour nude study from photograph



Watercolour nude study from photograph

My travel kit

Here is my basic watercolour kit that I use while traveling. 3 Escoda brushes (Charles Reid signature), 1 Pentel Twist-Erase 0.9 pencil with HB lead, W&N Field box, water spray, water pot, putty rubber and Hero calligraphy pen.

I still consider myself to be a newbie so my kit will change I am sure as learn more about watercolouring.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am in Northern Ireland at the moment so it is not possible for me to attend life drawing sessions in Stockholm. I really want to get started, so to avoid total frustration I sketched two photographs of naked models that I found on the internet. Am I breaking copyright laws by doing this? Anyway, I was very happy with the results, except I much prefer to sketch real models.

Waiting Room

I am currently in Northern Ireland taking care of my ageing mother. Yesterday we waited for four hours for her to see a doctor, plenty of time to study the backs of people's heads.

Life drawing master - Francine Van Hove

I was introduced to Francine Van Hove tonight when I visited LA CONCHIGLIA DI VENERE

The Nude in Art History. I found her work to be very feminine and beautiful.



Francine Van Hove

 

 

 

Urban Sketching at Central Station, Stockholm

I met Nina Johansson and Maria Flood from my local sketching group today at Central Station. The station was a great place to sketch, lots of people just hanging around waiting for a train, they looked bored and didn't move too much which was perfect. On the second sketch I masked the page with some tape which enhanced the picture a lot I think. Sketched in my A5 watercolour Moleskin, with Hero calligraphy pen and W&N watercolours.

Stockholm, Central Station 20130106

Stockholm, Central Station 20130106

Last life drawing study of 2012

This is another in the series of two minutes sketches I did on 200g watercolour paper. I spent about an hour watercolouring the figure yesterday. I am happy with my development, I started watercolouring for the first time in February 2012 so I'm delighted really with my progress. I look forward to 2013 and plan to draw and paint even more. :)

Two minute sketch plus one hour of watercolouring. 20121231