Figure Drawing

Family sketches

2 min sketches

These sketches show figure drawing practice using members of a family to discover drawing a range of poses. The sketches were done with soft pencil, this shows the mood of the family being relaxed in the living room. The sketches were drawn quickly to focus more on the shapes, poses, expressions and personality. The line work is simple to focus on the main details. The spacing of the sketches are very even and have a solid structure of organization behind the free flowing forms. The size and mannerisms show the age of the subject, for example the exhausted mother sitting by the tv or the cosy toddler taking a moments rest.   

Growth

30 mins to completion

This picture was made with a more expanded choice of mediums. A varied choice of coloured pastels brings the motion of the model to life. The use of earthy colours like green, yellow and turquoise give the canvas an organic appeal of flora. This adds an element of fantasy because it appears like a woman made of plants, gradually growing from out of the ground. Using a slight smudge technique it gives the poses more motion and raw energy and black highlights make the image stand out. The free and open strokes of the pastels make this piece very expressive and surreal.
The back of the woman standing up almost appears as a portal to another world, hence what looks like a waterfall in a rain forest. The scapula has the appearance of mossy rocks forming a waterfall to the forest floor. The only critique is that the arc of motion could be a bit smoother in the way that the poses flow together.

Frozen Hearted Soul.

30 mins exact

This image was one of the first to incorporate acrylic paints. expanding the choice of mediums. Notice the simplicity of primary colours, the blue represents shade while the yellow is light. The colour and positions of the model create a feeling of sadness and depression, The use of body language conveys this. Blue and yellow are also opposites on the colour wheel allowing a strong contrast. Other mediums involved using a variety of brushes to convey different shapes and patterns, Note how a fan brush was used to add pointillism on  the lighting and shading adding some abstraction. The use of colour could be interpreted as water or ice.

                  

Fiery Mountain of Life

25 mins exact

This image was the first experiment using very limited colour to convey a mood. The painting shows movement of a man getting off the ground and standing up. In this example the painting could be interpreted as the use of fire and its unpredictability. Notice how as the model gets further away the colours become paler and the fiery man gets less powerful as he fades like a blown out candle. The dripping effect adds a slight sense of macabre perhaps showing fire can become uncontrollable and dangerous. The critique for this piece would be to add stronger highlights to make the man stand out.