Masked performer

[Ian Bruce]

This was another 'Draft And Draw' event, similar to the one with the belly-dancers. This time we got to draw a woman who performs with masks (which she makes herself). She just posed, with no performing, so a lot of meaning was lost. I'd love to see one of her performances. This was a tough drawing project. Same two to five minute poses. Some of the drawings are a bit creepy. The masks were not always on her face. Sometimes she put a black hood over her face, dropped into a kneeling or crouching position and affixed the mask to the top of her head. This next one is one of those, as is the last one.

[lovin art]

vERY ~ Marcel Marceau Like .....

[kevinwueste]

I would have fallen .. apart!!!

-glad to see you persevered !

-Kevin

[stlukesguild]

There's something almost Goya-esque about these masked figures and the manner in which you simply suggest them with... watercolor?... sepia?

[Ian Bruce]

Hi, thanks for looking. Yes, David, it is Sepia watercolor. This was a real battle. I thought the belly dancers were tough--but this was much more confusing and off-putting. I did use a burnt sienna brush-pen a bit, but it did not work out. We are getting the belly-dancers again soon and I am looking forward to it. I will be better prepared this time.

[wandathefish]

I love it! so expressive!

[Descartes]

I love the expressiveness and the combination of line and wash. My own favourite is the contemplation of the third one.

[Indiana Kate]

Taken as a whole, the series is quite powerful. It poses all sorts of philosophical questions about what it means to be a person, how interaction between people is characterized by beauty or expectations of beauty, what it is to be human and part of a community, or whether or how I can know another person or know myself. The bit of ocher works well to focus our attention to the heart in one and to the intellect and hands in the second. I teach philosophy and I use art to motivate philosophic questions. Ian, your sketches motivate contemplation.

Kate