Had an exhausting but rewarding afternoon in my art class. After feeling a bit restricted by my A2 sized paper last week I got seduced by some of the finest A1 Fabriano paper and decided to do some charcoal. It was the same pose as last week but getting there earlier this time, I managed to find myself a better position.

I got most of the structure right quite quickly but had a real battle with the right leg - especially the right foot which I had to redraw about 20 million times. I have to say that I ended up feeling as if I'd had a stand up row with that right foot. Because I was drawing the underneath of the foot facing me, it was so difficult to make it work. I guess this is why a 3 hour pose is good for me to try to progress because in the past I've only done a maximum of 40 minutes and in a shorter time you don't get the chance to get accuracy and add detail.

The teacher, Jenny, introduced me to the work of Euan Uglow who has this incredible precision in measurement in his paintings. Some of his drawings look more like an engineers or architects where the body is drawn like an inanimate object. Jenny suggested I forget that the foot is a foot when I draw it which is harder than it sounds ...

Looking forward to starting a 3 week pose next week when I'm very possibly going to have a shouting match with a left elbow!


my drawing



Euan Uglow