Self Portraits and Contour Lines

Continuous Line meets Contour Line meets
Wire Style Drawing

journal sketch by Carmen Beecher

It was my turn to lead a challenge with my weekly painting gang.  The moans were deafening when I announced "self portraits" and got even louder when I continued "...in wire-like, continuous line drawings with an emphasis on the contour."  But I passed out practice paper and we all got to howling with our first attempts, believe me, for a group discount we would have marched directly to the plastic surgeons office!

I assured the fine ladies that a likeness was not required..."interesting line" was.  Slowly they began to get a bit more adventurous in the drawings and not whine so much about the wrinkles we have been blessed with.  The idea is that once you place your pen on the paper you do not pick it up again until you are finished...thus: drawing with one long,continuous line.  Another way to imagine it is to sculpt the image as if you had one endless piece of wire.  It's a very challenge exercise.

l to r: Carmen Beecher, Carol Schiff, Mary Warnick, (below)

Kathy Garvey, Donna Vines 

MIA: Dennette Schweikert and Fay Picardi

I have learned that I can teach OR produce OR photograph the event...but rarely all three at the same time.  So my final photos are missing the end products of all 6 of us.  Here's a sample however:

l to r top: Cindy practice, Carol,

Carmen, Cindy

I love doing these, the charm of certain elements give them a Picasso-esque flavor while the eye and hand have to really work on capturing shape.  Hopefully we will all continue to work on other subjects with this same technique.

Continuously Yours,

Cindy

Continuous Line Drawing

I still cannot hold a paint brush up higher than my waist so I have been experimenting with art exercises.  Continuous line is a  bit like contour line with the exception that you do not lift your pen from the paper until you decide it is complete.  You may do more than the outside contour line, but it must be all done from one unbroken line.  I remember doing this eye/hand exercise in lessons with Barbara Bassett, Orlando, FL, back when I was in junior high!

Here is the first one I attempted from a magazine adv,

 I added the decoration in background with a separate line after finishing- it needed something!

Next I did some "glamorous" faces from the magazine, trying to plan out how to get from one side of the face to the other with only one line...

And finally I did a face where I was able to start and stop at the exact same point:

Feeling that I was getting (a little) better I bravely pulled out a Gauguin book and attempted to copy one of his paintings titled "The Noble Woman."  Shrinking it to a 5 x 7 size was only one of the problems a full painting presented.

The book copy of "The Noble Woman"

I made two attempts at this, the first is the lower one.

 Trust me, the second one (with the paint) was not any easier to plan out or to execute, but at least her chin does not come to a point.

I think I will be doing some more of these continuous line drawings; I like the way the figures end up looking rather Picasso-esque and a bit distorted.  If one chose, one could intentionally draw important things in bigger proportion (which is what I think our subconscious does anyway).  However, I think the point of the exercise is not to distort but to continuously check back and forth from the model to the paper to see if you are lining things up correctly in proportion to one another. If the artist can draw imaginary plumb lines from what he has drawn to what is next he can learn intuitively how to compose the subject properly.  

Since I rather liked my 'modern version' of a noble woman I added some paint to her along with a mat which makes her look important.  Now back to my physical therapy so I can soon be at the easel!

ARTfully yours,

Cindy