Thursday, February 27, 2014

Lunch time portrait

I seem to want to draw and paint artists that I admire. This week's offering is Alberto Giacometti. I should have made his nose a little longer and a little bigger but otherwise I am happy with the result. Normally I tend to draw very quickly so this was an exercise in patience for my part. It took 90 minutes roughly to complete.

Alberto Giacometti pencil sketch on Fabriano A4, 21 x 29,7 cm

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Tuesday's life drawing

Location: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20140225

This weeks model enjoyed testing our abilities to the limits. He formed all sorts of strange angles and shapes with his body. I enjoyed it immensely, although I did feel quite tired after the two hour session was over.

Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minute pose

Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minute pose

Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minute pose

Male nude by David Meldrum
Two minute pose 
Male nude by David Meldrum
Two minute pose

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Suddenly there was magic

Location: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20140218

Well, normally I am very self-critical but this time I have to admit that I'm totally happy with my life drawings. Instead of shading with a 6B lead, I used pastels. A friend uses charcoal and I was envious of the amount of shading he was able to achieve for each pose. With a 6B one has to shade carefully otherwise it looks rough and unattractive to the eye.  This takes time and time is short at the life drawing sessions. So using pastels is perfect, they are quick, colourful and create smooth fills. I do not like charcoal as it creates intense contrasts. This results in very dramatic drawings which is something I do not want achieve. I'm searching for a more sensual, softer approach.

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Two minute nude by David Meldrum
Two minute nude

Five minute nude by David Meldrum
Five minute nude

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Lars the Body Builder

Location: Basis, Stockholm, 20140215

I've drawn Lars many times. He is fun, he has a name for each of his poses, like the ones below: "The Base Ball Player", "The Prisoner", "Björn Borg" and "The Egg". I cannot remember the title of the first pose unfortunately.

Male nude by David Meldrum
Ten minutes

Male nude by David Meldrum
Ten minutes

Male nude by David Meldrum
Two minutes

Male nude by David Meldrum
Two minutes

Male nude by David Meldrum
Ten minutes

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Tuesday's Life Drawing

Location: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20140211

Today I improved some of the sketches I did at yesterday evening's life drawing session, the first drawing especially, it was originally just a two minute sketch with little detail. I enjoyed finishing it and adding some design into the mix.

Two minutes plus ten

Ten  minutes

Two minutes

Five minutes + two

Monday, February 10, 2014

Dear Charles,

"Dear Charles Reid, sorry for painting you in such a way that you look like you just survived a bar fight."
Yes, too much red but I still enjoyed this lunch time watercolour. I used Arches 300g NOT paper, 18 x 26 cm.

Charles Reid by David Meldrum
Charles Reid - Watercolour Artist and Teacher

Karl Mårtens - A Quest For The Unexpected




I bought this wonderful book by Karl Mårtens at, Konst & Folk Gallery. I really like karl's approach to watercolouring, a mixture of Zen Buddhism, Scandinavian simplicity, Japanese calligraphy and natural artistic talent. I had a look around on the internet and have not found it so you'll need to visit the gallery if you want to buy it.

Visit Karl Mårtens website here.

The Gallery address is:
Konst och Folk
Hornsgatan 32-34,
11820 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 644 60 60
Email: galleriet@konstochfolk.se
http://www.konstochfolk.se/




Sunday, February 09, 2014

The less time the better

Honestly, the more time I spend on a drawing the more I wreck it with uncertainty. Keeping it pure isn't easy after two minutes. This is why I haven't shown any of my drawings that were longer that two minutes this time around.

Nude by David Meldum
Two minutes

Nude by David Meldum
Two minutes

Nude by David Meldum
Two minutes

Nude by David Meldum
Two minutes

Nude by David Meldum
Two minutes - plus a little more shading


Saturday, February 08, 2014

How to pass time on the train

Batman
I found this while wasting time surfing, it made me smile.
Click here to view the Tumblr page full of these wonderful images.

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Struggle and reward

Location: Könstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20140204

It was a struggle to begin with, I have not drawn a male model for a while and so the muscular torso threw me at the start. He was a dancer, skinny, with small butt and bird-like legs. After a few drawings I started to tune in to what I was seeing. I think I'm drawing lines at a slower pace these days, I look often at the subject as I draw the contour. I think that is key, draw what you see and not what you think you see. Anyway, I got a lot of satisfaction out of yesterday evening.

Male nude by David Meldrum
Ten minutes
Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minutes
Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minutes
Male nude by David Meldrum
Two  minutes
Male nude by David Meldrum
Five minutes
Male nude by David Meldrum
Ten minutes

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Madame Flex

Location: Basis, Stockholm, Saturday, 20140201.

Saturday's model was incredible in the way she could flex and bend her body into the most impossible positions. What was even more impressive was the fact that she could hold these poses for ten minutes without much effort. She left us feeling exhausted after trying to work out the lines of her anatomy during the two hour session. It was fun.

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Two minutes

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Two minutes

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Two minutes

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Between five and ten minutes

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Ten minutes

Figure drawing by David Meldrum
Two minutes