Reclining figure

The start of another reclining figure. Kate was happy to lie down but I was aware that she hated being looked at for long. No cameras and no long studies.

This sketch was done in a few minutes and her right leg is too short. I did not have time to draw her hands in detail but will try to get them done from memory. What struck me most was the size of her right foot compared to the size of her head. It looked very big and her left knee was very dominant.
Pencil on A5 sketchbook.

The next sketch is charcoal on A2 pastel paper.
My intention is to get the figure to work by lengthening her right leg and make her head and upper body quite out of focus in order to highlight the perspective.
Her trousers, showing the folds, indicate the angle of her left leg and her right foot is going to be the main interest.

So far, her left ankle does not follow the line of her leg, her left arm is too short, her right leg is not joined at the hip correctly and the sofa is not in perspective.











I have now adjusted her right leg, left arm, tweaked a few places and it is looking slightly better.

I then tried using different media to work on the composition more. On A4 grey pastel paper, I used oil pastels, added some turps and then used a bamboo pen with sepia ink. I added the wine bottle and glass.
I decide that the image of a resting figure was not enough by itself and went for the narrative idea.
My intention is to work out how to get the impression of someone resting after half a bottle of wine. The next step is to do the whole drawing on a bigger sheet of paper and experiment more with texture.

This drawing of Barbara reading caused a great deal of problems. Getting her legs in the right place, her right shoulder ( still a problem) and her clothes to look draped, all have to be sorted. I also found it difficult to take this drawing further. The composition eludes me at present.