another 20 min

20 min

...ah, what the hell

...here's the whole goddamn lot of 'em!

I love the way they sort of wiggle into place around the page, as if somehow they struggled to find elbow room and finally came to rest comfortably, each in their own territory. It always amuses me to find what composition one automatically creates while scrambling for white space and black ink, one 40 seconds drawing after another. That's a "right brain" exercise if I ever found one, since all of the conscious mind is busy enough trying to interfere and mess up the actual task of drawing each figure, and therefore the unacknowledged task of composition is truly automatic and should be a good diagnostic of how much "art" has really sunk into your subconscious.

...and a few more

more brush

chinese brush (2)

It was my first experience with a really wet chinese brush. To look at that deep black ink as something that can be erased, washed, pushed and pulled across the page, then built upon, layer upon layer, in such a forgiving, dynamic way, was amazing fun. Then class stopped momentarily for tea and cookies, a revered ritual there, and as I sipped at my cup it came to me to play with a dry brush. I loved the way it refuses to hold a point, it was even more my kind of disaster than the fluidity of a wet brush (isn't it amazing in how many way something can slip out of your control?). First you realize that a thin precise line is impossible. Then you stop desiring it altogether. Every stroke creates random masses of semi-parallel lines, in which your intention, speed, and boldness of action - or timidity - are apparent. Nothing counts as much in such a stream of furious lines beyond the sincerity of the charge. I found myself swinging and singing under my breath, and marvelling as the shape started fading in, each pencil of lines defined not a and not by a shape of a bone or muscle, but by its "motion", or by my motion as I stroked it mentally in passing. A body defined by the physical memory of the way you slapped it admiringly with your moving hand and brush. It was my favorite drawing of the day, by far...(you can see it two posts below this one)

male nude in chinese brush

Figure Drawing - Male Nude in dry brush

Stalking her shadow...

...with those voracious little eyes...I am sure she caught it in the end.

or, in Portuguese:

"A minha sombra fofa e' mesmo igual a mim
para onde quer que eu vá ela vai atras de mim
E quando eu faço assim
Ou quando eu faço assim
Ou quando eu quero tentar fugir, fugir, fugir, fugir, fugir,
fugir, fugir, fugir, fugir...
Ela foge tambem!"

-Rua Sesamo

(Thanks, R., Sesame Street Specialist)

Excuse me

...while I concentrate on my serious Art.

Caught under the charcoal rain

Bruna

male nude (1)

Lately I've been taking figure drawing classes. Since this blog has been a bit dead lately, I decided to start posting some of the results. Here is a quick drawing in charcoal. Mostly drawn with the eraser over a dark charcoal layer. I wish I had more time to work on this exercise, it was really fun.