For the past several years I've struggled to take along wee watercolor kits on vacation, thinking to do wonderful little color sketches of our travels. I have given it up. The kits attract attention, are messy, and the results are rarely anything I like later. This time I took my Moleskine and a brown Micron pen and that was it. Simplify, simplify.
One of the beauties of only having a notebook and a pen is that nobody plays me the least attention. One lady carrying a book and a towel peeked over my shoulder, but most people were essentially unconscious. Since I haven't found a nearby life study class, and like drawing people, all these sunbathers were perfect. Most stayed still for at least a couple minutes.
The first couple days I tried traditional sketches, but then I switched over to contour drawings. I just looked at the figures, then did the best I could, only looking down two or three times to keep the relationships reasonable. I like this one best.
8 comments:
Oooh, I think the contour drawing worked beautifully, too! Coincidentally, I'd been looking this weekend at a whole album of blind contour drawings I did four years ago and thought how (paradoxically) strong they were! It's a fantastic way to draw, isn't it? So lively and direct!
The modified contour drawing is fantastic. Just goes to prove that less is more.
I feel the same as you about my contour drawing work. It is something in the letting go that seems to allow what emerges onto the page to be something remarkable. It is to me a true example of Spirit working through us...
Great sketches...and i LOVE the bottom one, the simple countour don't pick up the pen zen beauty of it.
These are just great and so much fun...what perfect subjects!
Contour drawings seem to pick up the energy and essence of the subject without weighing it down with a bunch of details. Fantastic sketches!
That's the best idea. I've toyed with the idea of taking along watercolours with me but I don't like the attention, a book and pen are far less "obvious" way to capture images and hone your drawing skills. Good on you, the sketches look great.
These are great, very good.
Post a Comment