An Important Lesson

Thursday Evening:

Our trips have provided me with a wealth of inspiration for my paintings.  The trip to the Southwest fueled three paintings, and our vacations in Vermont gave me the lake and mountains for my latest work.  However, our trip to China did not give me images I wished to record.  For me, the most memorable and meaningful icon of the trip was the Great Wall.  David has even chosen a photograph that he would like me to paint.  I don't want to paint the Great Wall.  Maybe if we had been there in their spring when the foliage would have created a glorious contrast with the age-worn stones in the Wall, maybe then I would feel inspired.  But we weren't and I'm not.

I keep on finding myself drawn to some of the street scenes we saw and the people in the streets.  The wall surrounding the Summer Palace, a Tibetan monk in Tienanmen Square, and the women street cleaners sweeping the snow off the sidewalks in Manchuria - now those are scenes that talk to me.  I've finally decided to combine the Summer Palace's outer wall and the Tibetan monk. 

First, however, I needed to make several studies of both,  I've been painting landscapes not the "hard scape" of cities.  Trees have populated my landscapes not people.   How would I paint these things?  When would I use the palette knife and when the brush?  Making drawings would teach my hands the gestures to use and would teach me how to capture the essence of a standing figure and the intricacies of weather-worn, paint-faded carvings on an open gateway.  I made the first group of studies before my last class. 

I understand how walls are made and to a certain extent how wood is carved.  I know how both of those things feel when I pass my hand over them.  Perspective doesn't give me much trouble.  On the other hand, a body is different.  For the most part we see bodies clothed.  We have all seen skeletons and precise medical drawings of the  musculature over the bones.  So why is the body different?  For me, it turns out that the difference lies in knowing the correct proportions.  Did you know that your hand is as big as your face (put the heel of your open hand on the point of your chin and your fingers will usually be at mid- to upper forehead).  Did you know that your feet are as big as your head?  Generalities, to be sure, and not everyone fits, but these are the basics. 

Let me show you how important it is to know these things.  Here, drawn with a carpenter's pencil which has a broad, flat tip, is my first sketch of the monk with a close up of his head.   I realized right away that his head wasn't right (never mind the wig he seems to be wearing).  He's looking straight ahead instead of downward as he should have been.  Second, his ear is sliding off the side of his head and down his neck.  His eyes aren't on the same plane  . . . well, I could go on and on. 

Then I tried it again. The second sketch is better. Although done very quickly, the tilt of the head is better, but still not right.  The fullness of the face and the neck is closer to the real thing, but . . .  This is when Sharon came over and sat down by me.  She was pleased (and a little surprised) that the figure was good and the proportions right.  I told her I could usually copy what I see, but the head was eluding me - and I wasn't even going to discuss trying to make him look like the monk in my photograph!  That's a whole other series of classes.



It was at this point that she started explaining the proportions of the face which I found truly fascinating.  To have finally some guidelines to be aware of, to inform me as I draw, is a gift.   Copying what one sees without an understanding of basic structure is one thing, drawing what one sees with a knowledge of form and structure is totally different.  Ten minutes later, I had drawn this:



Wow! Perfect?  Clearly I sacrificed some things to get this face quickly, but now I can work on it again to bring it closer to what I want.  Can you see how much more like a real face it is?

Knowledge is power!