TIM BAKER

The online life drawing and portrait sessions continue apace, although I have learned I work best at my own pace and at a later time than with everyone else – most of the time I actually take far less time than the 10-30 minutes usually assigned, sometimes I take more for a pose or image that’s going well. This is partly what was driving me mad about the sessions I was going to – the hurried nature. I think when or if we get back to normal (?) then I’ll either include photographs into my working technique or find places with more relaxed ideas about time. It feels like people are packing loads of poses in, where I really need time to do something good. Otherwise what you get is a lot of rushed hurried pieces. Fine when you’re starting, but now I want to take it to another level.

Again ink and sketchbooks mostly, trying out a few new nibs – I got a titanium Zebra G nib as the steel nib is starting to rust already. And got a Tachikawa G Nib to try, which has a more firmer finer nib but I used it on good effect on ‘Fall’, the best and last image of the session featured here.

The first image was ‘Back’ above – I am good at backs, and quite a simple quick sketch but effective, you can see the ‘swoops’ that a flex nib affords here. I am really liking this mono ‘high-key’ plus wash style, even though I feel others don’t get what I am doing. That is a common with me, so it’s not that unusual….so I power on regardless!

Next was a sketch of the same woman below, three images, I wasn’t happy with one of them so not posted here, and two others worked as ‘Reclining Woman’ 1 and 2 below apart from the hands of one which I still hate so much I digitally edited them out! Horrible. Hands are always a struggle for me. I like the liveliness in both, especially #1.

And then I did the sketch ‘Reach’ above which I felt a lot better about, although looking now I am not totally sure of the scale of the raised hand…I do like drawing older or muscular models, not because of any aesthetic but they have wonderful lines to draw.

Some people are addicted to the S-swoops of certain female bodies, that ‘violin’ shape that Picasso loved, but I feel more at home and challenged with male bodies and other body types. That just seems a little too easy sometimes, and a little too easy to draw a stereotype?

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And then the last pose with the new Tachikawa nib (quite hard to find here, along with the Zebra it’s seen as a ‘Manga’ or ‘Comic’ nib, I get that but love what I was calling the ‘swoops’, the ability to flex a nib, i.e. press down and vary a line thin to thick. Fits my addiction to baroque twiddles, which might explain why I am a bit meh about S-shaped people, been there done that…but also works well with life drawing I’ve found.

This pose was a life model supported as if he was falling, so I called it ‘Fall’, I’ll leave any classical or religious subtexts to you but it’s an amazingly dynamic thing to draw. The background was a deep black, so I spent a long time washing in Liquid Indian in which creates wonderful tiger stripe and granulated patterns if painted wet on wet. I guess it’s the bits of shellac separating from the ink, but I love it for clouds or depth.

Thanks to Daisy for the image selection, some really interesting/challenging images which I like to see. Shame watercolour didn’t get a look in!