red chalk figure study

[montreal painter]

hello everyone,
I'm new and thought I would say hello. This is a 6 hour study from life.
It's done on arches hot pressed watercolour paper (140 lbs) with natural red chalk and caran dache watercolour pencil (russet). I have worked the hair and background a little since this photo was taken. please let me know what you think.

eric

[Biki]

Hi Eric,

A hearty welcome to you from down under.

Your drawing looks lovely from my untrained eye. Six hours - what a treat.!!

I love the lower half of the body, I expect the upper half is unfinished. Will you be able to get the model back for another sitting.?

What else do you have to show us.? I am looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[artmom]

Welcome to the forum, Eric. Interesting study. Excellent light on the lower torso.

Lyn

[montreal painter]

thankyou biki and lyn for your remarks - i'm working on the light in the upper torso - another 6 hours and it should be finished. here is a self portrait from life - painted in raw umber, ivory black and lead white.(oils) i included the preliminary block-in drawing that was done first. it's about 11"x14". It's almost finished. I'll keep my eye out for both of your work!
thanks again
eric

www.atelierdebresoles.com

[Shehaub]

Welcome to Wetcanvas!

Love the block in! Its really fun to see the preliminary blocks that are the foundation of the work your working on. I love how something so very simple can end up being something so complex looking. It also shows that getting some very basic information down as something you know is true as far as distances and porportion is vital. As a student, I have learned the hard way that without the initial block being correct, there is no amount of wonderful application (hatching, painting, blending) that can make a study look right.

I checked out your site. Some really nice stuff on there! I am curious about your school. Your program looks much like the self paced program I am studying under, except we also include Bargue Drawings in the curriculum. How many students do you currently have? Do you also offer time for the students to work without an instructor? Something like an open studio time? For example, I put in approximately 12 hours of individual studio time beyond my normal class time, per week. These are not required. I am just a studio junkie. My actual class time amounts to about the 6 hours as you have in your program.

Forgive my curiosity. I just enjoy hearing what other schools and students are experiencing. I would love to see more of your work and your methods, as well as your experiences with student artists.

[bjs0704]

Thanks for posting these! I really like the self portrait. It is very well done. The red chalk is beautiful.

Shehaub is absolutely right about the block in.

Since I went to a university program and then later discovered that there were ateliers, I would love to hear about your experiences.

Barb Solomon

[montreal painter]

Anna,

that's cool that your attending so many open studio's! We have two open studio's a week for our students but we encourage everyone to attend as many drawing groups as possible. we offer small classes with no more than
6 people in the studio at a time. We focus our curriculum on comtemporary and classical concepts of representing the figure. Thanks for asking! I'll watch for your work in the forum.

Barb,

Thanks for checking out my work. The block-in is a solid way to get proportion and shadow shapes quickly. It works best coupled with an understanding of perpective and anatomy. Here is another drawing done on arches watercolour block (hot pressed). A full range of graphite pencils was used on this - 6b 2b hb 2h 4h 6h. no stump. let me know what you think.

thanks again
eric

www.atelierdebresoles.com

[bjs0704]

Your hiding the good drawings! They keep getting better and
better.

This portrait has such good dimensionality! Lovely work!

Barb Solomon

[siberart]

All of your work is very accomplished! I enjoyed seeing your work and look forward to much more.

Thanks for sharing.

[decktilldawn]

Eric, your modeling of light and shade in the drawing is awesome (lower torso especially). I was also wondering about the palette that you would teach your students to use for a study like this. I am always curious about what is going on in all of the different alteliers. Personally I'm currently trying to decided where to receive a good classical training and have checked out the Angel Academy's website and even talked to someone with them through email for a bit. I am starting to have concerns as I hear Toronto is a very expensive city. Your school is not too far off from theirs (Canada at least) I see.

Great work.

[montreal painter]

thanks Pat for your comments! I'll keep an eye out for your work too.

Jeremy- Toronto is a very cool city to live in - you can find rooms for rent
at resonable prices but it is one of the most expensive Canadian cities. American currency does give you a small bonus. There are many good ateliers
to choose from - it depends on what your goals are. I always pick teachers based on their work and whether they can demonstrate the methods they teach in a meaningful way. I think it's best to study with many different teachers in the beginning and then stick to a few once you are sure you're on the right path. It always comes back to your commitment, sincerity and focus.
The palette for the grisaille painting is - ivory black
raw umber
lead white
bitumin
mix the umber and black together to make a neutral grey- mix with white
neutral value scale
use the black with white - create cool value scale
use the umber with white - warm value scale

it's a grisaille with temperature considerations. warm light mass
cool turnings
warm ambient light
neutral background
glaze with bitumin
try to paint the whole thing alla prima - then scumble and glaze sparingly!
eric

www.atelierdebresoles.com

[Danny]

Eric,
After I saw this fine drawing I had to look at your websight. I would like to know more about your school. I am seriously considering going to Angel studios in Toronto, In fact I have already been excepted whenever I want to start. I looked at your website and it raised more questions. Do you have daily live figure drawing, what is the term of the course, and do ya'll offer full time courses also is it a degree program? It only talks about 3 week terms. I also have a question about fat over lean. I do under paintings in the classical style? One thing that bothers me is when you do an under painting its a little heavy. If you start doing thin layers of paint over this, then its not doing fat over lean.

[montreal painter]

Danny- thanks for checking out the website. In the past we have created a full time program for interested students. Presently we are running a part-time program - up to 12 hours a week. We also have two open drawing sessions a week with one long pose that usually goes for a month. Registration is on going - you pay by the month and each course is structured for four weeks - Most students come and stick with cast drawing untill they show good proficiency and then move on to anatomical drawing.
This could take a year! Life drawing and painting are taught after a student has taken cast drawing, anatomical drawing and grisaille painting. You're welcome to check out the studio if you come to Canada. It's not a degree programme but I have taught at the New York Academy of Art and provide a well rounded programme. Space is limited to the best applicants no more than 6 students per class!

fat over lean

people often think this means thick paint over thin paint but this is a misconception.
fat and lean are terms used to describe the percentage of oil content in the paint. You can have a thick layer of paint with a greater percentage of pigment to binder. That's ok as long as there isn't impasto texture getting in the way of the form. Generally it's good to paint the first sitting with only turpentine just to get the drawing. Then paint opaque for as long as possible.
then glaze and scumble on top - making your glazes progressively fatter as you get to the finish. more oil = longer drying time
less oil = more painting time

I play a strat and a guild - dig those photos of you and willie
i'm into garcia and grisman, allman brothers, stevie ray

eric
www.atelierdebresoles.com

[donna726]

Hi Eric,

awesome drawing. I wondered what part did you use the watersoluble color pencils for...

I tried the raw umber/ white/ ivory black palette you used for your self portrait (which has a wonderful mood) But mine just looks like warm grays in the light, cooler gray in the shadows. Nothing like the warm glow that you had on your painting. Is that from the bitumin glaze? and what color is that anyway, I couldn't find any info on it.

Does the white also matter? I used titanium/zinc white.

Thanks,

Donna

[montreal painter]

hi Donna,

thanks for checking out the work. In response to your question about the drawing - the initial proportions and gesture were drawn with the natural red chalk and most of the tonal work was done with the water colour pencil.

the painting was painted with lead white (it is very warm and a perfect semi-opaque paint for flesh painting)

to get the warm atmosphere - use warm light mass (raw umber)
cool turnings (ivory black)
warm reflected light (raw umber)
neutral background and hair (raw umber, Ivory)
finish the painting alla prima then...once dry
glaze with bitumin(ashphaltum) keep it very
subtle maybe even just the shadow mass.
then scumble with white (sparingly) only to
accentuate the light effect.
Never scumble the reflected light- paint in the
correct value opaquely
raw umber -old holland bitumin-rembrandt
Scumble with zinc - very subtle

write me back if this is confusing.
eric
www.atelierdebresoles.com