Ways Into Abstract Painting Week 1

 Week 1 of 'Ways into Abstract Painting'  at City Lit   started in the morning with mark-making with  dry media : charcoal, graphite , oil pastel  and pens ( above) - we were allowed to play with ink after tea break ( below) . The idea was to make each area distinctive from another and there was frequent  'waltzing with easels' as in the previous class I did with Lucinda Oestreicher , to see what other people had done.

  My favourite marks  were with charcoal and eraser ( above)  and a bunch of pencils used together ( below)

 We then chose a detail/techniques from our 'palette of marks' and di a large version ( I had the usual issue of   not stopping soon enough - the centre was better when it was blank)

 After lunch we divided paper into 4 and chose an object to draw using the marks we'd developed in the morning. The idea was  that these drawings would become more abstracted and simplified like Picasso's bulls ( above) using different viewpoints and scales. I chose a red teapot which  is an old friend from many a still life class  and like many in the group found it difficult to apply the  free mark-making  to an object - like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.  Next week colour!