Drawing summer school - day 2

"Choose an object" -

Then, working in pairs, we first spent 5 minutes looking closely at it (the drawing came later) -

 including with magnifying glasses -

One person drew the texture of the object, for 5 minutes, without being able to refer to the object ... and erased it -

 The other did the same, over the erased marks -

First person again -

 This time some marks got left ...

 and a final drawing was made -

 New piece of paper (smaller; newsprint), both of us working on it at the same time -

 The morning's results -

In the afternoon, consideration of the similarities of plants and humans, in terms of life-cycle. The task - to make a sort of hybrid between plant and human.

I used the veins in my hands as a source - they bulge, but they supply life-blood! Like sap in a tree. Like (neural) pathways that can be set up when others are blocked.

All sorts of botanical and medical information and metaphors swam in my brain as I struggled with the shapes -

nearly gave up, then switched to charcoal

persevered and started to enjoy it

Some people saw "Matisse's dancers" in it, but I think of it as the Dark Wood and all that lurks there...

Next to my work were these "hybrids" - plant-body, landscape, chimera ....

The tutor of the day, Sarah Woodfine, had had an exhibition at Danielle Arnaud; though it was closed, it hadn't been taken down yet, so the class walked over to the gallery (on Kennington Road, about 20 minutes from the Drawing Room).

Refreshment in the garden behind the house -

 and a close look at Sarah's work. She often draws on rolls of paper, using B and HB pencils -

Another snake, a different format -