Caught some artists life drawing and sketching out and about.
Fountain pen and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper and Tomoe River Paper.
Just as one would hope to capture the essential features of a car, or tree, building, baseball stadium, or someone’s home such that they could be identified by a person who hadn’t been present when the artist drew said thing, I try to “get essential features” of the people I draw, when out and about, so that you might gather important info about them. What I think of as “capturing fleeting expressions“ or “capturing the ephemeral”.
Maybe you sense gender, have a rough estimate of age, hair texture, ethnicity, or race. That they aren’t just a template, a simplified symbol for a human. Will I be able to set features and the ‘structures beneath their skin’ that their individuality might be evident and their identity known? And if I have even a modicum of time, can I give indications that they are cognizant, sentient people with expressions that give outward evidence of emotional states of ….say stress, anger, surprise, delight, or that they are concentrating, focusing, in the act of speaking, perhaps listening. Can I capture a sign they are thinking?
I’ve always done better when there were lots of features such as mustaches, wrinkles and weathered faces, prominent noses, or unusual hairstyle, less so if someone had simple features, smooth skin, button noses. Hence young children and babies vexed me. Young women were much more difficult than old geezers. With years of practice and concentrating on the goals stated above I’ve made strides, but them dang young kids still expose some of my shortcomings.
However, last week, on a crowded #22 CTA bus, I managed to get a young child taking a snooze in a stroller that surpassed the majority of years of attempts. There’s still hope for yer Uncle Darn.
Overcast day with rain in the forecast but I figured I’d go nab a quick study of the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Well, so much for the quick study. I admit at some point I thought,”Well, why not draw every blade of grass?” Seemed like a good idea at the time. I was able to include a bride having a photo session by the fountain. Weather intervened after a hour and a half and rain chased me into a cafe for about 30 minutes. A break in the rain let me return to add another 20 minutes before a light sprinkle resumed. I was still something around 1,500 blades of grass from finishing but who’s counting. Went home and used the bald patch for text. Still, enjoyed a prolonged loitering on a park bench.
Ink on toned paper.
Having gone to the Palette & Chisel for well over a decade, I’ve seen and drawn my share of models sitting in a chair with grey fabric draped behind them and way over lit. So I actually enjoy drawing the artists in the studio at work. They constantly shift, some leave early and I find the array and cluster of them far more interesting.
Draw with the usual tools I’ve been using for years.
Well, one thing’s for certain….I’m no architect. I really don’t dig drawing large wall after wall after wall of windows. Got back today to finish yesterday’s sketch of the pall over Chicago from the Canadian forest fires. I have a great vantage point of Lincoln Park as I sit by my north facing window. An interesting challenge of sketching the light at that time of day is that because of the haze, the buildings and trees in the distance resemble distant mountain ranges on hazy days; the top profiles are darker at their crest and lighten as they fall below the closer mountains. As each mountain range or ridge gets closer, its crest is darker than the one more distant. But, as the trees got closer to me, the sun lit the tops so that the closest trees had to be darker than the crest of the tree in front of them and closer to the viewer. The reverse of distant trees and features. So the challenge was to still get the sense of a pall from the smoke, the atmospheric perspective, and the raking afternoon sun striking the tops of the trees. One obvious trick is how you use contours, edges, contrasts, lines and details. Drop the use of line as you move into the distance, more clarity and detail in the foreground, greater contrasts in the foreground. It’s such a great view we have of the city and lake from our apartment but you might guess why I don’t perch by the window more often drawing these views; because it’s such a fun pain in the arse.