The third session of this course took place yesterday. It was another shocking day weatherwise - very wet - so I wasn't in a great mood when I arrived, having walked the last two hundred yards in the rain. To cap it all I forgot my umbrella!
To my surprise Pat was missing at the Park and Ride but on arriving she was already there having caught the earlier bus, not by intention just a mistake. We were early with few others yet arrived and spoke to Saied grumbling about the weather. With a smile on his face he said he hoped he hadn't contributed to our gloom.
After a while most of the others turned up totalling eleven women and two men. As usual men were well in the minority as is mostly the case at workshops I've attended. Saied began by talking for about twenty minutes. He started with a question; `What is the difference between a dead scene and a living scene?' There was a dead silence for a while and bear in mind, apart from the three newcomers, all others had attended previous courses, some more than once. There were one or two attempts to answer - not very enlightening - and I have to say it wasn't entirely clear to me what he was getting at. He further talked about the art of simplicity which he said was more difficult than complexity. Overall the theme seemed to be the stripping out of superfluous items and seeing what really mattered. When you begin the drawing he talked about stepping stones into the drawing and the right procedures at the start. It was quite a complex exposition and he stressed several times that what he was asking us to do was very difficult. Some of the points;
What is important and what Is redundant?
A high degree of selection.
Minimum of means.
Sit and look.
Subject and object not the same thing.
When in trouble look for negative shapes.
Solving conundrums.
This week we had a male model. He was on the same raised platform but the easels at the four corners were removed so it was less cluttered. The model was posed in the lying down position shown in the drawing. Saied stressed that he knew what he was asking us to do was difficult - he said this several times - a bit of psychology I think - and repeated his previous instructions to integrate the model with the background, using the various lines and angles to get proportions correct. He also stressed the importance of ensuring the scene was kept within the boundaries of the paper by careful measuring but also said measuring was not the be all and end all. Take an open view and don't begin in a predetermined way.
The raised platform was first drawn and then moving upwards and sideways from the back to the ceiling using measuring tools - principally a pencil held vertically and horizontally. I am still having problems with this and was uneasy with my work so far. After that the model was posed. Frankly the opening one and a half hours was not good. I reached an impasse and sat staring at the paper wondering how on earth I was going to draw and fit in the model. I should say that most work extremely slowly - Saied stresses to look first, study things carefully, avoid rushing in and work slowly. The fact that I didn't have much on the paper was not a lot different from most the others. Being used to completing a watercolour in less than two hours this very slow approach is foreign to me and takes some getting used to.
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To my surprise Pat was missing at the Park and Ride but on arriving she was already there having caught the earlier bus, not by intention just a mistake. We were early with few others yet arrived and spoke to Saied grumbling about the weather. With a smile on his face he said he hoped he hadn't contributed to our gloom.
After a while most of the others turned up totalling eleven women and two men. As usual men were well in the minority as is mostly the case at workshops I've attended. Saied began by talking for about twenty minutes. He started with a question; `What is the difference between a dead scene and a living scene?' There was a dead silence for a while and bear in mind, apart from the three newcomers, all others had attended previous courses, some more than once. There were one or two attempts to answer - not very enlightening - and I have to say it wasn't entirely clear to me what he was getting at. He further talked about the art of simplicity which he said was more difficult than complexity. Overall the theme seemed to be the stripping out of superfluous items and seeing what really mattered. When you begin the drawing he talked about stepping stones into the drawing and the right procedures at the start. It was quite a complex exposition and he stressed several times that what he was asking us to do was very difficult. Some of the points;
What is important and what Is redundant?
A high degree of selection.
Minimum of means.
Sit and look.
Subject and object not the same thing.
When in trouble look for negative shapes.
Solving conundrums.
This week we had a male model. He was on the same raised platform but the easels at the four corners were removed so it was less cluttered. The model was posed in the lying down position shown in the drawing. Saied stressed that he knew what he was asking us to do was difficult - he said this several times - a bit of psychology I think - and repeated his previous instructions to integrate the model with the background, using the various lines and angles to get proportions correct. He also stressed the importance of ensuring the scene was kept within the boundaries of the paper by careful measuring but also said measuring was not the be all and end all. Take an open view and don't begin in a predetermined way.
The raised platform was first drawn and then moving upwards and sideways from the back to the ceiling using measuring tools - principally a pencil held vertically and horizontally. I am still having problems with this and was uneasy with my work so far. After that the model was posed. Frankly the opening one and a half hours was not good. I reached an impasse and sat staring at the paper wondering how on earth I was going to draw and fit in the model. I should say that most work extremely slowly - Saied stresses to look first, study things carefully, avoid rushing in and work slowly. The fact that I didn't have much on the paper was not a lot different from most the others. Being used to completing a watercolour in less than two hours this very slow approach is foreign to me and takes some getting used to.
By the time we came to the break I was in something of a stew. I think it equivalent to writers block and painters block. I frankly didn't know where to go and what to do next. Pat, who was sat close to me, saw my mood and apparently spoke to Saied, who when we recommenced sat by me and talked about how to tackle the various problems. My temporary black cloud lifted and I started to get some marks on the paper. From then on the second half of the session went much better - at least as far as I was concerned - and I started drawing the model fitting him in to the space and checking all the time. Saied came and looked at my progress and made some comments about my drawing suggesting changes. The word gesture was used and I overheard him saying something similar to the lady next to me, who had been on previous courses. She later told me is was very difficult initially when you started this course. I noticed at this session that Saied frequently said he knew what he was asking was difficult to very difficult but would be of great benefit if we could grasp it and put it into practice.
Looking at each others drawings at the end of the session. We were asked to do this several times previously.
After nearly two and a half hours many were still working on the initial pose. It had been planned that three poses would be utilized but in view of the time taken this was abandoned and only a second quick pose was adopted. We were asked to superimpose this over the other but I slightly misunderstood what he meant. Nevertheless I continued and managed (by my standards) to complete the second drawing, integrating it with the first pose. We then finished as it was already 5 pm - amazing how quickly three hours passes - and it was well dones all round! As I've suggested there was a subtle change in Saied's approach this time. A stick and carrot approach (?) while stressing he knew how difficult it was to achieve what he was asking?
A2 Sketchpad - Actually this only takes up the lower half of the paper. I've auto adjusted the drawing so the pencil marks are more visible but the one below is more real.
This is how it actually looks
I've made this a very warts and all report with nothing concealed, an approach designed to allow readers to understand what it is actually like and not hide the difficulties I (and others) are having. The three newcomers are all struggling to some degree and having looked at all the work some others still have difficulties. I'm beginning to understand Saied's strategy I think. It is certainly a challenge but I'm up for it.