Assignment 4 Figure drawing

This is put together in a rush and the two drawings chosen from a selection of many figure drawing done in the last few months.

I realise that I have not done a line drawing of a seated figure but I hope that my other drawings show an indication of my use of line.

This is Kate relaxing. Drawn from a sketch as she was recovering from lunch. A2 paper and charcoal.
I have done many versions of this drawing under the entry
"pushing my boundaries" but decided to submit this as it was the simplest.

The seated figure is Michael who had so many body piercings that this was the only view I felt I could tackle. It was done with brown oil paint on A2 shiny card, then drawn with a rag. I realise that it does not show my skill with line but my only drawings that work well with line are A4 and done very quickly.

These are the only two drawings that show any indication of the surroundings as I tend to focus more on drawing the figure correctly than making a composition at present.

Self portraits of famous artists.

This is something I was very interested in but had trouble downloading the images from the Bridgewater library and so this is just my observation of certain artists until i can work out the technology.


First, I noticed that some artists concentrated on looking intently at themselves and others made more of the composition, situations and general appearance of the painting ( or drawing)

Van Gogh did many of himself, both full face and using the surroundings to create the image. There seemed to be a real questioning of who he was.

Edvard Munch's self portrait with the bone of an arm at the bottom was really fascinating as it seemed to echo the bleakness and depression of his life. His full frontal image of his inscrutable face really conveyed to me the feeling disconnection with the world.

Andy Warhol was interesting to me in that there seemed to me to be no indication of who he really was. " "People are always calling me a mirror and if a mirror looks into a mirror, what is there to see?" This quote of his seems to be a clue as to his inscrutability. His self portraits are worthy of far more time and writing than I have.

Gaugin's self portraits were much more complete paintings in his surroundings, colour, composition and a feel for the period he was in. Again, far more could be written but time eludes me.

Lucien Freud was looking so intently at himself and my feeling was that he was looking into his soul through painting himself.

To be continued.......

Portrait from memory

This is a sketch, drawn from memory, of Louise, in response to her self portrait on the media hub.

She looked so serious that I had to show the other side of her.

She came to visit me for a weekend and I was aware, most of the time, of her infectious laugh. This sketch is taken from a photo that was still on my camera and so it is a combination of looking briefly at the tiny image in the camera, which kept disappearing, and the memory of her laugh.

What I wanted was the feeling of joy that came from her.

Old Lady with a Turquoise Earring. self portraits

This shows the stages of the self portrait I have tackled. I have found it difficult because I do not relish looking at myself for long periods of time and examining the sagging flesh and wrinkled face that has developed over time. However, it had to be done!

First I did a charcoal sketch which I then wiped over with a cloth, followed it with a sketch using blue and yellow pastels. I wanted to use purple to have the complimentary colour but could not find it! I then rubbed it over with the cloth as the mistakes ( face too fat, neck too wide, mouth too crooked, jumper not hanging ) were too obvious.

I then used a rubber to mark out the lightest parts of my face and also found my purple pastel which I used to emphasise the shadows.

The rest of the time was spent in tweaking the drawing, trying to get the proportions better, the tones more accurate and both eyes looking in the same direction.

It all looked a little boring and so I put on my earrings.














The final drawing is now " Old Lady with a Turquoise Earring."

The drawing on the right is one I did earlier, (with shorter hair)
drawn with a biro on my notebook. Slightly intense, rather cross and not feeling my best!
















I realise that I have not put myself in a room, no other objects of interest and no idea of where I am. This was intentional in order to focus entirely of who I am,  as a result of looking at other artist's self portraits. My intention has been to be honest and look with clarity at my image in the mirror, without prejudice, without over-emphasising my distorted view of myself or my mood.
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A collection of figures

Sarah Hill2012's photostream

Sarah Hill2012's photostream on Flickr.

This is my attempt to get a link to Flickr and show the photos of the exhibition I shared with four other people in November.
The exhibition was for one week and I sold some paintings, covered my costs and made a profit and so I was delighted.

Again, technology defeats me a little and this is not how i wanted the page to look but it is the best I can do at present.

Figure drawing at Leith

Friday, November 16th, at Leith School of Art was a day of life drawing. The model, Michael, did a few two minute poses to get us warmed up, then a long drawing on A2 shiny paper.