Circomedia & Drawing Circus Performers

Trying to capture movement.

This time last week I was in Bristol, staying with my daughter, and it was the eve before an amazing drawing workshop lead by Sara Easby from the Bristol Drawing School. The drawing day was held at Circomedia - the centre for contemporary circus and physical theatre - in St. Paul's Church, Portland Square. The church was saved from dilapidation and converted in 2004 and now houses the UK's largest indoor trapeze rig and aerial facilities. Visit www.circomedia.com for more information.

Circomedia, St. Paul's Church, Portland Square, Bristol.

The day dawned bright but chilly and we arrived at the venue in good time. We had come with sketchbooks (size not specified so I kitted us out with A3 as capturing moving figures suggested to me bigger gestural strokes), pencils, charcoal, Neocolour crayons and water brush pens in case we had time to brush pigment out into a wash.

Sara started by introducing simple ways to tackle figures in constant movement - from a single sweeping line of action to 'pin men' and suggested that we keep in mind where the weight was distributed. Basically we would be trying to capture first impressions, no detail, and just explore how to best describe the evolving configurations of the circus performers (our models) as they practised their skills!

To give you an idea of what we were up against I offer this brief video clip taken on my phone:

A small selection of my A3 sketchbook pages...

Acrobatics, in pencil, A3 sketchbook.

Acrobatics, pencil, A3 sketchbook.

 

Acrobatics, pencil to capture first movements
and superimposed with charcoal
as sequence of positions changed.

Things got a bit more scribbly and manic as I tried to get the essence of our 'models'  doing some juggling with first the diablo then balls/skittles. Can you make head or tail of these?

Juggling, pencil, A3 sketchbook.

Juggling, pencil, A3 sketchbook.

Juggling, pencil/charcoal pencil, A3 sketchbook.

All of this was before lunch! Three quarters of an hour later, back into the fray, with a variety of circus skills on offer. Our next models warmed up...

Circus performer warming up on the floor...

Warming up...

... before they both took to the air on the trapeze!

Two performers on the trapeze.

Two performers on the trapeze, Neocolour crayon.

Two performers on the trapeze.

After the trapeze came Poppy creating beautiful shapes with the Hoop...

Performing with the aerial Hoop
(apologies for the blue tinge - the paper is white).

... and Johnno working with the long drape of red fabric...

Aerial performer with suspended fabric.

Amazing shapes of aerial performer with suspended fabric,
Neocolour crayon, A3 sketchbook.
(Apologies for blue tinge).

By this time everyone was beginning to flag from the intensity of the looking and rapid mark making trying to get the gist of 'poses'. I have done a fair bit of 'blind contour drawing' in the past whereby the drawing is created whilst the eyes are focused solely on the subject matter and not on the page at all - a strategy that proved very useful at times. Then just when we thought we had seen it all the final performer took to the sky - well, the curved swing suspended high up near the ceiling. What a finale!

By this time many people on the workshop had called it a day with the drawing, either from tiredness or shear awe at the difficult task of capturing anything of this last performance. But I was determined to give it a try...

Holly on the curved swing, Neocolour crayon, A3 sketchbook.

The whole day was fantastic. I had treated not only myself, but my daughter (who also likes to draw when she gets the time) as a birthday gift to her, to spend such an extended period of time grappling with this near impossible task of capturing something meaningful of these incredibly hard-working, skilled specialists of the floor and air. Thank you Sara, and the talented circus performers of Circomedia for such an incredible experience.

If you are interested in finding out more about the courses run by Bristol Drawing School visit www.drawingschool.org.uk.

I will leave you with another short clip of Holly on the curved swing.

Creative Christmas - Sketching House Rabbits...

Sketching Odie using sepia Artline calligraphy pen 3.0
in a Goldline 8" x 8" harback sketchbook.

Apologies for my blog being quiet for so long... and I wish any readers a belated Merry Christmas! It seems to me that artists fall into one of two camps at this time of year. They are either rushed off their feet and spend every moment racing to fulfil commission commitments and seasonal greeting card orders, or, go very quiet and seem to fall off the creative planet as Christmas preparations (meal planning and family logistics) take over. This year I have definitely been in the latter mode... with a new kitchen thrown into the mix - which is almost finished. I must add that I have had a lovely Christmas and once the final shopping trip was done, and presents all wrapped, it has been great to spend time with family.

However, with my daughter visiting for the festive period I have finally managed to get my artist mojo back as she arrived with, not only her (new) husband, but her two house rabbits as well!

The two house rabbits - Odie on the left and Thor on the right.

I had two sketching sessions when Charley and I let the rabbits have the freedom of the conservatory to stretch their legs and for me to practise drawing live animals as they moved around (often at speed).

Thor investigating the sketchbook...

A brief moment when both rabbits are occupied and relatively still...
it didn't last long!

Pencil sketches of Thor.

A few brief lines then Odie was off, scampering around the conservatory!

Another day and another attempt - using pen this time.

Odie drawn in sepia Artline calligraphy pen 0.3,
and Thor drawn with Edding profipen 0.7

I tried working directly with watercolour using a water filled brushpen... hmmm, very dodgy results and page too wet to turn over and keep going. Decided to return to a more user friendly pencil.

Can't imagine why I thought it would be a good idea to try watercolour...
(once the page dried added a few pencil lines before moving on).

Ah, back to pencil and as Odie calms down a bit and nibbles fitfully on some
cabbage a more satisfying sketch emerges.

Close up detail of sketch capturing the character of Odie...

Thor still lively and only manage quick lines
as pencil dances across the page to try and keep up.

Some rear shots...

Lines showing more confidence in execution...

Final page of rabbit sketches - "such fun"!

The series of photos and the video clips highlight how tricky it is trying to make sketches from moving animals! My approach is to keep expectations low - focus on observing the animal, how does it move, what shapes does it make, what are the eyes, ears, nose like. What are the legs and feet like - how does this affect movement? All these fragments of lines, combined with hard questioning and looking, help to build up an understanding of the animal... page after page of simple elements are testament to the challenge of drawing a living creature and I am satisfied that I have learnt more about the animal, and drawing, during the process than from a single static photograph, especially if it is one that I haven't taken myself. However should I go on to create a more finished piece of work from a photo of Odie or Thor it will be with this first-hand knowledge backing up my intuition.

If you have the opportunity to work from live animals, grasp it, enjoy the challenge and accept the limitations imposed upon the results.

It just remains for me to wish you a Happy New Year and see you in 2015!

Another Attempt at YouTube Videos!

Tubes of watercolour

Watercolours seem to be featuring quite a lot in my recent work, and also in the mixed media classes that have just started back after the Christmas break. This medium is so seductive, but probably one of the trickiest as there are so many variables - and to my mind it works best when 'given it's head' a bit. The paint likes to move by itself in water and it is scary to not be totally in control, but this is when watercolour seems to be magic! I decided to have another go at making a YouTube video and use it to introduce the materials and some basic principles/techniques as hints and tips. My previous attempts were time lapse - this would involve speaking...

The introduction involved two attempts. The first time I tailed off at one point, forgetting what I wanted to say. However once I moved into chatting about the materials and the actual demonstration parts it was fine. In fact, once I'm off, there's no stopping me and I totally forgot that at the moment my YouTube account will only allow 15 minute maximum video length. I definitely exceeded that. Consequently, I had to discover (fast) how to edit and trim the video into two parts. Also how to join the short introduction so it was incorporated into the first section. So, the video has been posted in two parts again - not ideal but I will remember the shorter time frame in future. The good news? I also learnt how to use YouTube editor to add a title and an end frame with this blog address.

Thinking About Watercolour 1:  Introduction and Basic Materials

Thinking About Watercolour 2: Basic Hints and Tips

Hope you enjoy my efforts, and would love any feedback!