My 2009 calendar had a different Monet painting each month. I so enjoyed looking at these pictures throughout the year. The freshness and quality of light in his work is extraordinary. I enjoyed doing these little studies and learning more about his work.
After doing the warm up exercise at life drawing class we got down to a few 40min exercises. This contour drawing was done with conte and then washes were applied using an opaque paint. The skin tone was done in small brush strokes in different directions. Several colours were used in layers. First orange then blue then a warm red. I didn’t quite get this finished.
As title suggest the object of this lesson was to observe the model and draw without looking at your drawing. We were to stand side on to the easel stopping any temptation to peek at what our hand was drawing.
At the pastel class I am teaching in St Andrews we have been looking at the work of other painters we admire. Choosing a particular painting we like then doing a painting in that style. I chose Monet a favourite of mine. I first did a study of La Zaan a Zaandam 1871 then I looked at some reference photos which I had and did this seascape. This is a detail from the painting.
I did this quick sketch on the train back from Edinburgh. If you make a drawing you always remember so much more than if you had photographed the subject. I used a permanent ink pen and 3 neutral coloured brush pens.
I used conte building up the tones in warm and cool colours. We were studying the style of other paintings at the life drawing class I attend. Caroline was done in the style of Degas’ bathing paintings.
This is a study I did in preparation for the class I am taking at St Andrews Art Club. The first two weeks we will be concentrating on doing tonal paintings. The snow covered ground we have had lately has been a great source of inspiration. On days it was too cold to paint outside, my camera came to the rescue. The drawing for this painting was done with charcoal. The number of pastels used were only about five.
This painting is mainly done in Gouache with some pastel on top. I love the glimpses of crofts as you travelled on the roads in Barra.
This painting was done with a palette knife on a textured ground. I finished it by applying soft pastel. In Barra there are so many lovely quaint cottages to be seen.
When looking at a piece of watercolour paper which had washes of watercolour and acrylic ink on it. I got inspiration to do this painting. Some of the washes show through on the final painting. I used goauche to bring out the figure and followed this with conte crayons and finally some soft pastel.