A few more figures

Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 30, 2010 under Art, Drawing, figure, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 6 Comments to Read

Yesterday afternoon I did some pencil sketches from photos of people on the beach.  I really enjoy working with a pencil and this exercise was relaxing.  Last night I drew up two of the figures on watercolour paper and did some painting.

These are both on Fabriano and are 360 x 260 mm.

Here is the sketch I did of this watercolour:

And here is the other painting:

This is the same one I did  this week but I got here proportions a little better.  I wanted to do this ala prima but found that I started putting more glazes to capture the musculature in her back  - so I don’t know where that is going to end.  I liked Leslie’s comment about being drawn in to a painting by the parts that are left out.  Herman Charles Bosman, the South African writer also made this point.  He tells a story from the Anglo Boer war about a father who liked to tell the story of his son who rode off to surrender to the Khakis and how he rode after him.  And, says HCB, he always told the part that of that story that he should have left out if wanted to be a good story teller.

So…

In fact I have book of water-colours by Alex Powers who has mastered this art.  Let me check some of his work out.

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  • Carol King said,

    Your figure sketches are fantastic! I love the girl’s hair in the top one. It’s so rich and dark, it glows.

  • Heidi Brummer said,

    Stephen, your sketches of figures are very good. It is simply practise, practise, practise makes perfect. Well done!! I sketched my daughter and her friends playing tennis. I had been given a good tip. Do all 4 players at the same time. They will get back to the same pose many times as the game progresses. So true. Eventually I had all four done. It’s a really good exercise for observation.See you at the Merit Exhibition. Heidi

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hey Heidi
    that is good advice – I have started doing that when I sketch people in church. We seem to adopt the same set of postures when we have sit for a while. Yes I am looking forward to the opening – Marissa has left me a message to say that my paintings are framed and ready – so I am getting further and further from the last minute to everything – which I suppose is a habit.

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hi Carol – thanks hey – I hope you are getting some painting done today.

  • Looking for beauty said,

    I agree with Heidi’s comments and Stephen’s in reply. When you do this exercise, you find out what people’s characteristic stance is and the drawings are so much more dynamic.
    Lovely drawings, Stephen, and nice translations – loose and tight at the same time – into watercolour.
    K

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Thanks K – I am really enjoying figures

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