This weeks session at the National Gallery was on tone and I'm starting out this time with what I achieved - my interpretation of
'The Virgin in Prayer' by Sassoferato. It took me long time to choose a subject to draw despite having choice from a limited number of rooms so I only had an hour. But I'm learning to look beyond the subject matter which doesn't necessarily appeal to the underlying structure. The more I drew , the more excited I got, finding repetitive shapes (especially triangles) and connections and I realised that it reminded me a lot of the
neoclassical period of Picasso.
As in previous weeks we started with an hours gallery tour picking out particular aspects of a few paintings. The first was
Leonardo Da Vincis' Burlington House Cartoon . It's modelled with relatively few tones - the same tone can look different optically according to what it's' next to so it's critical to keep making comparisons. This was what we were to look for and bring out in our sketches - so no pressure then!
After looking at the
'Virgin of the Rocks' to see how that had been carried through into paint, we spent some time debating whether the background blue of
Bellinis's 'The Doge, Leonardo Loredan'was the same throughout (it is) as it looks lighter against the RH side in shadow . The complimentary orange of his cap adds to this.
The effect was even more dramatic in the
Chiaroscuro of
' St Francis in Meditation' by Zurbaran
We finished by looking at
Seurat's 'Bathers at Asinieres' ( and the oil sketches alongside). While we waiting for a slot among all the tour groups, we were shown some of the sketches in an exhibition catalogue where he'd started with details such as folds in the shirt fabric but then had simplified. I'd forgotten how much I liked his
drawings, so was pleased when I got home to track down a book I bought over 30 years ago.
Next week we have 3 hours 'sustained drawing' putting everything that we have learnt on form, tone and composition into practise. Ideally we have to know what we want to draw beforehand so the tutor can track down where we are! I've narrowed it down to about 8 (!) and will probably go a bit earlier than normal see what the light's like ( some rooms are a bit dark) and whether there is comfy seating nearby before I decide.
1 comment:
This looks like a real eye-opener! Even at second-hand, feel my eyes opened ... what must it be like to be getting the guidance on looking, and then sitting down to look and draw!
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