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30 November 2021

Drawing Tuesday - Pangolin Gallery and/or bottles

 The Pangolin Gallery welcomed us, and even offered chairs!


From Joycehere’s my sketch of “Pair of sitting figures 1” done in pencil. Interesting exhibition, I didn’t know much about Lynn Chadwick before but liked the variety of forms, some inspired by the Kennedys and Marilyn Monroe. When you se then close up the textures are wonderful



I went outside after lunch and saw my second sketch gleaming in the sunshine showing off the gorgeous patina.


From Sue - Here are my 2 sketches of Lynn Chadwick pieces @ Pangolin Gallery. Some sketchworthy work & welcoming staff!!


‘Pyramid 3’ 1965

‘Bullfrog’ 1951


From Janet K - Lyn Chadwick.  The Stranger.  1954 bronze.



From Judith - Lyn Chadwick        Beast, Beast V11 and Bullfrog




From Jo I have finally caught up with the 'bottles'. These are stoneware ones in wax crayon and brush pens:


From me - At home, I drew (and then traced, with subtle repositionings) a setup with six bottles, thinking to use the tracing fora monoprinting.
But there was far too much going on. Instead I redrew combinations of bottles straight onto the back of paper laid on an inked sheet of plexiglass ... and after a while I started writing notes on the back, so that the writing came out backwards on the front, and that led to writing backwards on the back, so it was legible on the front -


23 November 2021

Drawing Tuesday - Southwark Cathedral and/or "underneath"

Some went to Soutwark Cathedral, some stayed home...

For those who didn't go to Southwark Cathedral, the suggested topic was "underneath" - 
preposition
  1. 1.
    situated directly below (something else).
    "our bedroom is right underneath theirs"
  2. 2.
    so as to be concealed by (something else).
    "money changed hands underneath the table"
adverb
  1. 1.
    situated directly below something else.
    "there was plenty of storage room underneath"
  2. 2.
    so as to be concealed by something else.
    "paint was peeling off in flakes to reveal greyish plaster underneath"
noun
  1. the part or side of something facing towards the ground; the underside.
    "a wart on the underneath of his foot"




From AnnFor 'underneath' theme here is the moment when Callisto is brought to Diana underneath a robe and revealed as being  pregnant by Jupiter...Dianas husband. This is a drawing showing a section of the painting by Titian which I drew  on a study day of this painting recently.



From Jo - Managed to do 'underneath' in Southwark too, although I found it very dark in there. This is the underside of a lectern:

And an early ceiling boss, now propped up as eye-level at the west end:



From Najlaa - I did something different.


From Janet K - I liked the expression on Dr Lockyer's face. Not the usual tomb monument.

From Sue K - l settled on a section of a huge memorial to John Portar & family. Made by the Southwark Group of Sculptors. He & his wife & children are depicted & in addition, 2 ‘weepers’ children who didn’t reach adulthood. (I left off the larger children - defeated by pleats & ruffles).


From JoyceI sat next to Sue and drew the two figures above hers, John Trehearne and his wife. The “hearse” of his name means heron, so three herons, depicted on his family crest.



From Judith - Two for the effort of one. ‘Inside my husband’s hat’[last week] and ‘underneath.’


From me - I unexpectedly had to be at home, but that gave me a chance to do some monoprinting (my bete noir among the "fun" techniques). 

Taking what was nearest to hand, I turned over some mugs and a bowl that were on the drying rack, nice simple shapes, then arranged them and "just drew".  Here are the favourites -

and these turned out ok too -

Hint for writing backwards - write it forwards first, on a scrap of paper, for reference. 

16 November 2021

Drawing Tuesay - Camden Arts Centre / "inside my clothes"

The topic of "inside my clothes" arose from a jacket whose inside has been under repair for several years. The lining keeps developing new rips, somehow... It would be easier in the long run to replace the lining but I'm rather fond of the patches - most have a memory attached, which makes wearing the jacket is psychologically cosy.

Also I find the labels inside clothes rather fascinating, and sometimes they are beautiful, the older woven ones especially. I used to have a considerable collection, carefully unpicked from many items of charity-shop clothing that, minus its seams etc, now constitutes most of my fabric stash. 

Then there are the contents of pockets... oh my, they can be a minefield!


Most of the group went to Camden Arts Centre -

From Joa left-handed drawing looking across the garden from under the cafe awning at Camden Arts Centre.


From Sue K - Here’s my sketch of ‘A pulled handle’ unglazed ceramic by Phoebe Colling-James show: ‘A Scratch! A Scratch!’ interesting shadows/shapes.



From Carol - I had difficulty getting inspired by the art at the Camden Art Centre but found the doors really interesting to draw.



From Janet K - Glazed ceramic torsos by Phoebe Collings-James.



From Joyce - Here’s my sketch from one of Zeinab Salem’s charcoal paintings. Part of a body of work meditating on the condition of stillness imposed by the pandemic. Part of her inspiration came from vegetal arabesques traced by leaves and tendrils.



From Judith - A lovely day so a quick sketch from the garden.



From me - Some of the characters (self portrait attempts, hardly likenesses!) who find themselves wearing my clothes ... different aspects of my personality?


09 November 2021

Drawing Tuesday - shards (or Wellcome Collection)

The meeting place this week was the Wellcome Collection. The stay-at-home topic was Shards. 

A shard is defined as "a piece of broken ceramic, metal, glass, or rock, typically having sharp edges". A chance to look closely at one's collection of broken pottery found in the garden, seaglass (atypically not "having sharp edges"!), chipped rocks, pottery bits found mudlarking along the Thames, or even revive happy memories of visits to the Petrie Museum!


From Jo -  delftware from the Thames



From Gill - cut pieces of card that I may print with



From Ann - a ceramic shard in watercolour



From Sue K - "Closing Neural Tube" by Helen and Kate Storey, Wellcome Library



From Carol - . This is ‘The World Under Pressure’, remembering those who have died around the world through the explosions of faulty pressurised containers.



From Judith - Welcome Collection ‘World Under Pressure’



From Joyce - First one’s the best. Celia Pym 2015

Celia had a residency in the Dissecting Room at King’s College where she stitched while the medical students studied anatomy around her.
These socks, there were many more than these four, were intentionally cut , anticipating ares where they are likely to be worn through , then stitched , carrying out preventative care.
I used coloured pencils suggesting the darned stitches.



From Najlaa - This is from Welcome collection. I printeded the picture from the web site in 2016. I just now tried to draw the shape.



From Janet B - Here is my astronaut from the Wellcome last week. [By Yinka Shonibare.]  Again, a 2B and no rubbing out. 



From me - A power cut that started in the middle of the night had left me without charge on my phone - so while drawing the shadows in the wall panelling I plugged in my charger and "stole" some of the Wellcome's electricity and before long was told this was Not Allowed - well, I skulked downstairs to the caf and kept out of trouble by drawing some chairs -



02 November 2021

Drawing Tuesday - big bodies

For the "big ugly bodies" topic,  I was thinking along the lines of 

 -animals like rhinoceros etc

https://sites.google.com/site/100objectsbritishmuseum/home/durer-s-rhinocerosif you want to read about Durer's rhino -



- vehicle bodies that have "suffered" in some way -

In the human realm, Jenny Saville's big portraits crossed my mind and on looking at them, I had mixed emotions - big bodies, fine; disfigured faces, not pleasant to look at...

In the abstract / conceptual realm, there is the "body of work" - and body of proof, body of evidence, body of lies....

Or a body of water?


But what people came up with was hardly "ugly" - the drawings were inventive and beautiful! 


From Judith - a pair of elephants from the Brunei exhibition



From Janet K - Earthenware tomb figure of a roaring lion. Tang Dynasty about 700-750. (From Brunei Gallery)


Body builders - Gross! (for "big ugly bodies")



From Carol - Here are some big ugly vegetable bodies which turn out to be very good for you. I will be having a cook up later. Celeriac, butternut squash, chayote and purple carrots (which were being sold as witches noses)



From Ann - Here are a few bodies..though I don't consider them ugly. Enjoyable to draw and lovely forms.





From Jo - I decided to have a scissors-fest with yesterday's paper!



From Gill - Some bodies created out of blots.



From Joyce - Big, ugly bodies, I give you a monkfish! Who knew they are so huge? I’ve included the fisherman to give it scale.



From Sue K - Here’s my take of a woman seated in the cafe. She seemed to ‘fit’ the bill - took a sneaky pic & did at home. She was deeply engrossed & barely moved. 



From Judith - Memories of Horniman Museum Walrus.



From me -  an unintentional ink blot brought a body - in action - to mind, and I had a paintbrush to hand for a few finishing touches...