Middle aged madness: First signs

[ashess]

hey marian! thanks for stopping by my sb. and wow, I totally love this direction your latest works are going. I think it must be all that sculpturing you've been doing. the #504 long poses are truly works of art! they have that feel of grand statues about them. and you also struck that fine balance between lose, free drawing and attention to detail. I also love the side fiew of the lady in #509; the one in the 'centerfold'; what a neck!

[Marian Rowling]

Damien Levs: Hey Damien I'm having a ball and it just keeps getting better. Thanks so much for your feedback and support.

ashess: Thanks Angnes for your generous words. That lady in post #509 is me! I always fancied myself as a centerfold.....hehehhe.... only joking of course.



Life Drawing Day
8.10.11

I was lucky enough to attend another life drawing day last weekend. I had a great time and it was a really nice crowd of people and a new model. I tried out everything I have been doing lately and the model was so good to draw it really made me want to get better so I could get a better likeness.

1. 5 min gestures.
2. 40 min pose.
3. 40 min pose.
4. 3 hour pose.

[p sage]

Nice job on the rendering there; looks very refined.

Any ideas where Thomas disappeared?

[Satu]

Good stuff as always Marian! Wii I feel sudden urge to try this silhouette-drawing thing. Though I've actually done some negative-space drawings but could try this on alive model too some day.

[Marian Rowling]

p sage: Thanks Sage that's kind, I did end up killing it a bit as I reworked her face so much I could no longer get the charcoal off. Still very handed with my rendering but I do see hope. No news of Tom I'm afraid, hopefully he is just away or really busy with his art studies.

Satupeikko: Hey Satu thanks for your enthusiastic response, I'm glad like me you get sudden urges to try out what you see. Happens to me all the time and I get so inspired and excited.



Sculpture Study Update:

Had a good session last Sunday of about four and half hours. I managed to get the checks, chin and mouth area looking better. I then started to work out the eye but I still have much to resolve here as again the profile is getting there but the front view isn't right at all. In my next session I will focus on the eyes and see if I can work it out. Still very much enjoying the experience and I can see myself in it which is really funny.

[p sage]

Hey hey... starting to look very human

[miycko]

Hey there, i'm really glad come back to CA & find you've improved so much the life drawings look great and i like those silhouette studies you've been practicing. Really cool sculpt, it’s so very realistic, looking forward to your updates

[Marian Rowling]

p sage: Thanks Sage I was joking with a friend that I've got so used to seeing myself bald that I was thinking of having my head shaved......would make self portraits easier and skull studies! Seriously though I am quite please thus far for my first attempt and I do think that when I get the hair on it will look far more human.

miycko: Thanks Miycko I'm really looking forward to your updates as well, I thought your latest work looked great.



Portrait Painting: Class 3- Introducing Colour
10.10.11

This weeks lecture introduced me to the wavelength colour wheel which our teacher explained is a more useful tool for us to use than the traditional colour wheel. I hadn't heard of this before but you can see on it how the greens take up a far larger fraction than the other secondary colour's orange and purple. Also covered was warm and cool colours, and how each colour tends toward another like Cadmium Yellow tends to orange as it has red in it.

We discussed how red is the first colour to be filtered out by the atmosphere and how red brings things forward and blue sends them backwards. Although already aware of this I had only previously thought of it in relation to landscapes and not still life or portraiture. We then looked at examples of this in Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, Lady Agnew by John Singer Sargent and Vincent Van Gogh's Mother. Our painting assignment was to use our imagination and our reference photo to add colour to last weeks under painting.

As usual my brains first thought on looking at my portrait was that everything was at the same distance! I then realised I had a background which I aimed to paint in a middle tone low chroma cool blue. Then the model face to have more yellow warming to red on the check and the hair, though dark, to be warmed with red. The results of what I actually painted were garish and I feel I mixed much too much white into my colours, especially the background resulting in a ghostly looking model. I was really pleased with how the hair was going though and of course just very excited to be painting and well aware that there is nothing to stop me from having another go.

[Liberty]

Wow, works for me, beautiful painting.
Edit, I`ve just read all previous posts that I missed. Thank you and 5* for storytelling and work.

[Little-Maiden]

hehe, cheers for stopping by , I am a bit hard on myself true, and yeah despite art being a life time of learning Im aiming to be professionally capable within the next 2-3 years so I feel like the clock is against me (in terms of goals)

Though I'm only seven pages in my SB and I hope I can progress as fast as you have by page 18.

----
On a related note to your sb, great stuff since I last visited, the 518 is coming along well, though lol I can't get my eyes off how square her hair (particularly the back portion) is XD. I mean maybe she actually does have that hairstyle, but my eyes are really focusing a lot on the angularity, The back of her hair feels like such an important landmark due to its bold geometric shape. Nitpicking aside though, great soft colour usage and theres a nice light (skin) dark (hair) light (pink shirt) effect.

[Marian Rowling]

Liberty: Ahhh, that's so kind Liberty, I am humbled and grateful for your words and support.

Little-Maiden: He he Little Maiden I know what you mean about the block head, a couple of other people have commented on it. I think maybe I was thinking of Bridgman's blocks! As always I appreciate your feedback, it's great to have other artist's eyes look at what you're doing.




Life Drawing: Term 7
12.10.11

Following my teachers suggestion I arrived at class last week armed with a lightweight drawing board and some newsprint ready to draw the model in the longer poses from different angles. I allowed 10 minutes before moving and I only measured with my eye. It was a great idea and I really enjoyed doing it. I started to feel that I was drawing the head too big, legs too short and feet too large. All good things to know and watch for in future drawings.

1. 5 min gestures.
2,3 & 4. 10 min pose.
5. 10 & 5 min pose.

[Marian Rowling]

Sculpture Study Update:

Worked for another four and half hours last Sunday and after getting the eyes to roughly match I started in on the hair. All rather exciting even though I've given myself a short, back and sides at the moment, the addition of some hair has made me look more human. Noticed a disparity between the cheek/jaw line areas when taking the photos so I shall focus on that next session along with more hair.

[p sage]

Cool! The sculpt is really coming together. Nice one Marian. Really liking the results.

[Marian Rowling]

Portrait Painting: Class 4 - Key Dimensions of the Face & Figure
17.10.11

This weeks lecture was all about the starting measurements that make a portrait look human.
1. The eyes half way up the full height of the head.
2. The width of an eye is about the same as the width between the eyes.
3. Part of the iris is covered by the eyelid so we don't see a circle.
4. Dropping lines from the tear ducts to find the width of the nose.
5. Dropping lines from the mid point of an eye to find the width of the mouth.
6. Ears are about the size of the brow to bottom of the nose.
7. Find the base of the bottom lip about half way between the base of the nose and the bottom of the chin.

Well I'm pleased to say that I did know these proportions of the face but it was good to hear it again. Our assignment for this week was to focus on measuring the models proportions for our initial drawing. I spent ages measuring away and rechecking and I thought my drawing looked quite accurate. I then decided to start painting in the tones with a mixture of raw umber and liquin. I very quickly made a lot of errors and as fast as I tried to correct them I seemed to muck up another area or make it worse. Had to laugh really because my inexperience with the paint and not being able to use Turpentine really did throw me.

What I came home with doesn't look like to good a start, my Dad said her nose looked like a lion. Which is quite right but maybe useful for latter on when I draw animals. I however remain highly encouraged as next week is half term I shall use the time with my reference photo to see if I can correct those errors and learn my materials better. All I keep thinking is, I'm painting, I'm painting and I can't wait to have another go.

[Liberty]

Sculpting looks somewhat tedious, but you get to have it after its done Nevertheless keep working and what I would like to see mby is something creative and loose...imagination perhaps?

Take care.

[Damien Levs]

Marian, You really are an inspiration for kicking my butt to study more. Your work is coming a long way...you certainly have put a lot of time into your studies. But as Liberty says why not try and go for something from imagination and really have some fun with it. Looking forward to seeing this sculpture finished.

Thanks for stopping by again. I really appreciate it.

[Graworks]

The sculpture looks very vivid. Very convincing shape.

And you perhaps already noticed that working with sculpture enhances your drawing - it's common. Last poses (of October 17th) show very good progress, they resemble academy sketching practice.

[Marian Rowling]

Liberty: Ha Ha Liberty is that the voice of youth I hear. Fortunately I don't find the sculpting tedious at all, must be an age thing! Thanks for your continued support and feedback. You always make me smile.

Damien Levs: Many thanks Damien for your kind words. I love all the imagination works I see and I am working my way towards it. Strange though it may seem to some but I actually do find all these studies a lot of fun.

Graworks: Hey Graworks thanks so much for your feedback. I have found that the sculpture is making me very aware of the planes of the face which is really useful. I'm a big fan of the academy method so maybe all the good drawings I've been looking at are starting to influence my actual drawings.



Life Drawing: Term 7
19.10.11

I continued on with the short 10 min poses this week and took a smaller drawing board so I could stand and move around the pose more easily. We were also moved into the dancing studio, hence the poor model hanging of the dance bar. My teacher suggested this week that I use these short drawings to gather information to do some tonal paintings at home using about 4 tones in black and white using Lukas Medium 5 to bulk the paint out and only use a palette knife. Good idea I think.

[zou]

hi marian

i see you're following a nice ordered program, great !
tanks for sharing it with us. Your description of the classes are very useful.
some of your gestures are pretty good. the profile portrait is on the right way to achieve nice color but i'm disappointed by the hair shape (the right lines) they seems unrealistic.

[Marian Rowling]

zou: Hey zou that's funny because I had just posted in your sketchbook not realising you had visited me. Thanks so much for your comments the program is well ordered for portraits but not for those learning oils for the first time. This has made it quite a bit more challenging. You are right about the profile portrait I don't think at the time I even realised I had painted it so blocky. I'm hoping to revisit it later on as my portrait knowledge grows and improve such areas. Lovely to hear from you and thanks for stopping by.


Portrait Painting: Class - Voluntary Homework

As there is no class this week I decided to have a go at correcting the proportions on last weeks portrait. As the paint was dry I just had to paint white over it. My teacher keeps saying to paint dark to light or dark to white but I can't see how to correct errors in dry paint. I sometimes find I understand best by just doing it and then seeing what happens.

After finishing my tonal painting I couldn't resist having another session last night and got all carried away dabbing colour everywhere. Ended up with a bit of a mess, which the photo has improved. I realised looking at it this morning that I still don't actually have the proportions right, the nose is too long making her face look to thin, I had to laugh. I shall have a go at changing it again as at this stage I more interested in trying to learn than worried about spoiling the painting.

[Marian Rowling]

Portrait Painting Techniques - Online Class 1
25.10.11

Here's a little eye study I did painting along live with an online course I'm taking over at www.paintbasket.com. It was a lot of fun with some very interesting info. This class is taught in oils so hopefully it will help me get a better understanding of them. This was done with very cheap oil paints on oil painting paper as I haven't got my artist's quality paints just yet. I wanted to see for myself what it's like to use these materials.

[poetry man]

Hi Marian, I really like how you sculpted the portrait. I also like how you explained the color theory from your class. Useful info. Keep getting better then, lol.

Have a good day! peace.

[SamC]

Woaahh hey you're from Farnborough, that's really close to Fleet! These studies seem really thorough, keep it up

[p sage]

Looking good, Marian. A little structure would help the facial portrait; it would help you to find some side planes on the right cheek, hair, etc.

I'm in the same 'basket' with oils, too... trying some things on cheap canvas paper (the age we live in).

Good luck and most of all have fun

[Damien Levs]

Marian,
Your portraits are looking really nice. I do think that your profile portrait is quite strong...I find heads so difficult. May I ask what school/college or uni you are studying at? It looks like a really nice program with lots of life drawing.

Also, Thank you for your continual support on my thread. It is very much appreciated. Off to continue my master study now. Ta ta for now. All the best!

[Marian Rowling]

poertry man: Hey Andre thanks so much for your feedback. I'm glad you like the sculpture.

SamC: Woaahh indeed Sam, just what are the odds on me posting my portrait right after you, small world eh! Thanks so much for your feedback. I'm currently working my way through your totally impressive 67 page sketchbook!!!! PM me if you ever fancy meeting up to go sketching locally.

p sage: Thanks Sage I do need to get the planes of lighter value in on the right side. I actually made it even worse this week at class as you will see in a later post that I have lost my tonal contrast all together LOL!

Haha....love your little 'basket' pun!



Damien Levs: Hey Damien thanks to you to. I'm actually just self tutoring by attending a couple of local night school classes. I go to a 2 hour life drawing class once a week which runs for 10-12 weeks a term, 3 terms a year. I'm on my 7th term now. Just recently I started the portrait painting class which is also once a week for 2 hours and runs for 10 weeks. Here is a link to the teachers website just in case you are local to it http://theportraitplace.co.uk/artadvert.php. I've also just started an online portrait techniques class on Tuesday nights at www.paintbasket.com

No class for the sculpture just doing this one on my own at home using a book a friend recommended to get me started. Of course I spend all my free time studying, drawing and painting everything I can. Heads are really difficult and I think it does take quite a while studying to get really good, I still have so much learn. You are doing really well though so just keep at those studies.




Sculpture Study Update: 23.10.11 & 30.10.11

Here's a double update on my sculpture as I only managed a very short session of 2 hours the Sunday before last. Managed a good 4 hour session this Sunday so I really got going on the hair which is very challenging trying to work out those main basic shapes. Still very happy with the progress though and pleased that I have managed to get it to this stage. Next session I'll be sorting out a dodgy looking chin line and neck and working more on the hair.

[AllyAlbon]

I have just read through your sketchbook beginning to end - very nice! I like your aspirations, to become a real media painter, as that is the direction I am sliding in too. Very nice studies indeed, and your bust is coming along really nicely.

[Marian Rowling]

AllyAlbon: Hey Ally thanks so much for taking the time to look through all my sketchbook. I appreciate your feedback and I shall enjoy looking at your sketchbook.


Sketches Update: All from life.

[p sage]

It's good to see you work on some graphite.

The sculpt is looking really good, Marian, though I wonder what you'll do with another "you" staring back at you from the corner once it's complete

[Raffix]

hi marian thanks for coming back to my sketchbook

new stuff is looking good - quick poses are great and looking pretty accurate. one thing i have learnt from lara so far is the importance of gesture, some of your figure drawings are looking a little stiff and a bit of work on gesture and rhythm might be benefical.

in terms of the painting, your values are starting to get a little mixed up. keep the values clean and separate in the beginning stages, preferably initially establishing the main shadow shape then going into midtones.

the sculpture is cool.
- neck is a little long which might be throwin off your eye for working out the rest of the proportions.
- the eyes and the form of the eyelids are too big atm, tho i can understand you migh want to exaggerate them a little to convey the forms.
- the hair is looking very nice

nice to track your progress ! keep p the gd work