Drawing the Light in Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Always searching for light and interesting people, here is another sneak preview of a new work-in-progress. This is Day 2 of a nude figure drawing that I am creating in charcoal and pastels. I hire the models, while my friend Dana hosts our drawing sessions in her flat. Her house is fun to work in because the lighting is so different from the other studio we work in.

Our Italian model Sarah took this photo of me during the break. The blue light is coming from the sunlit curtain covering the only window in the room. So, I draw coolly, ha.

After our drawing session was over for the day, I rode my bike down Borgo degli Albizi to visit my favorite paper shop. I needed to buy a gift on Saturday night because most shops are not open on Sundays and I wanted to stay home to work on Monday and Tuesday. I try to organize my time well since I am a slow producer and interested in too many things.

But, this past Saturday evening, the light in Florence at this moment was truly fantastic! With these medieval tall buildings so close together here in central Florence, it is difficult to take good photos. The sun just does not arrive fully on most streets.

But in this moment, the sun was highlighting the Tuscan golds on this old building. The crumbling fresco designs looked purple in comparison. I snapped several shots of this wonderfully textured and richly colored wall, admiring the contrast of the round upper windows over the rectangles and the sculptured shield jutting out away from the mura. The composition I include here is my favorite shot and if you click on the blog’s image, I believe you can see a larger sized visual.

So, remember to look up and appreciate the light.
And if you are coming to Florence, Italy, soon, my exhibit starts on the 16th of April and lasts for three weeks. For more information, please see my Web site.

Updated: The Finished Figure Drawing

"Nightwatch"
charcoal with pastel / carboncino con pastelli
64 x 46 cm

Sight Size Ecorche Drawing

I began to tell you of my sight-size drawing method progetto of the male écorché. Let me also explain that since my paper is smaller than the plaster cast that I am drawing, I have moved my easel forward to align the vertical placements of the original figure with where I desire to draw my figure. You may also note that I used a level to insure that the easel and drawing board are vertical.

I begin my drawing from a distance – the same spot marked on the floor so that my viewpoint is always the same (be careful not to wear high heels one day and flats the next!). I study, look, and visually choose the position on the paper that I wish to make my mark. Then I advance and draw on the paper, immediately retreating to my same viewpoint to see if I have made the drawing accurate. This is a slow process, because I do this starting with every height and width, often using a knitting needle in my fully extended arm to measure the original and compare to my marks on the paper.



In this photo, you can see that I have drawn the outline of the figure, as well as the shapes of the shadow areas. I must decide what is in shadow and what is in light. The lightest part in shadow will always be darker than the darkest area of the lights. This drawing process helps me to never lose my form, which is determined by tone (and edges). After creating the line drawing of the figure and shadow shapes, I then make all of the background near the figure dark. Then I can see more clearly all of the errors in my shapes. For example, the straight arm is way too thick. More to follow . . .

Light and Shadows in Florence Italy

Before Lisa and I ended up at The Art Bar in Florence last Friday night, we stopped in at a friend of a friend’s attic apartment to buy some sheets for my new room. (Oh, yes, I forgot to say that I found a nice room vicino the Teatro Verdi, not too far from my room with Grazia. I moved in early to help the situation with my old space and am now sharing with a cute young couple studying design here in Florence.)

But, I digress, as I often do. After we purchased the sheets I needed, Lisa and I did some exploring on the lower floor of this woman’s building. If I told you the address, I might have to kill you. (Nice, huh? Gotta protect the private.) I love going into all of the Italian homes and business spaces in central Firenze. This one surprised us both. While I was still photographing shadows in a hallway with a large vase and plant and looking for other hallways to explore, Lisa was curious about some beautiful wooden doors.

We were both delighted with the view below that Lisa discovered after she opened the doors. Pictured here is the beautiful window with a simple floral design that only partially hid a warm Tuscan-colored floor behind it. This is one way to add a bit of nature to a city of stone and concrete!

But then, look at the cast lighting from the hall lamp hanging from the ceiling. Lisa can definitely spot the cool stuff! The way the light hit the floor made the wooden floor look fluid. I hope you enjoy the images I took of the water-rippling floor and a bit of Lisa’s door on the left, as well as the image of the light that cast such a hypnotizing pattern. While the ceiling’s shadow is not quite as interesting, the contrast between it and the floor’s design is fun. So, when you visit Tuscany, do not forget to keep your eyes open for even the smallest pleasures. And definitely peek into open doorways!

Sara – Big Form Modeling in Charcoal Drawing

Picking up where I left off:
The sooner I convey the illusion of form, the stronger my disegno (design or drawing). Allora, after I distinguish the main tone design, I want to start turning the form with Big Form Modeling. Like other drawing systems, I will work large to small. This means that my first objective is to depict the entire figure as a three-dimensional form. Then I will do the same, within the context of the larger form, for the smaller forms, such as an arm.

I tend to like the brush, thus far, for things such as subtle blending. I get plenty of dust as I sharpen my charcoal sticks against a sandpaper-covered board (a small cutting board or a ping pong paddle work well – something flat and strong). So, I dip my brush into the dust and work my way from darks to light. How quickly I go from dark to light depends of the form I am creating.

In today’s images, I am showing you the beginning of Big Form Modeling on the figure’s head. The first image shows the head as a pattern of light paper with generalized dark shapes. The second shows that I have started to indicate that the head is an egg-like form, becoming darker closer to the bottom of the face, which is further away from the light source above the figure. I can do Big Form Modeling from side to side, as well as vertically.

Sara – A Charcoal Drawing Process

My last day working with the model Sara is Friday. I wish I had more time, but then six weeks seems really long to most 2-dimensional artists.

These next two images were taken on the 8th of November. Here you can see that I have done a really poor job of creating consistent tones. I will work to correct this before moving on to the next step in the system. In the beginning, I only have two tones in my disegno: the light of the paper plus my added darks. You may see in the detail shot what I mean by abstraction of nature. The shadow on the wall behind the model is grouped together with the figure-in-shadow, creating one solid dark shape. I can re-find the line separating the two later – or not. My choice. (You can also see the vertical striping pattern of the textured Roma brand paper.)

The next step is to start to differentiate the darks by averaging together the DARK DARKS (such as the hair and shadows of the legs on the box). Those DARK DARKS get compressed charcoal, so I want to be sure of where I want them in my design. I then have my shapes set in three tones, all determined by the relationships to each other as I decide them.

That last part is important. Each artist makes her own decisions. A good example of the various choices one can make is in the vertical part of the leg. My tone here is not a solid one. That is because with each new sitting, there were subtle differences in the pose, creating slightly different light patterns. That portion of the leg has quite a few areas that are debatable as to whether to group them with the lights or the darks. What you see here is a case of indecision. At some point soon, I will have made that choice.

You also see in the top left section of the front of the box that I had begun to distinguish more dark tones to show the three sides to the box. (And I have lightened the background to something between the lights and the figure-in-shadow.) The sooner I convey the illusion of form, the stronger my disegno (design or drawing).

Sara – A Charcoal Drawing Continued

I thought you might want to see some more of my progress with my first carboncino (charcoal) drawing of Sara. I referenced the creation of the disegno of the figure’s head on 18 Nov. and also showed you something of how I transferred my cartoon to a quality toothed paper that accepts and holds carboncino.

In these next two images, taken on 4 November 2007, I have completed the transfer of the outline of the shapes in my disegno. Now I am filling in the darks. It is important to establish what is considered a shadow vs. what is light. There is no other way to define form, really. I start with vine charcoal, the French Nitram brand in this case. Using a soft B stick, I work it into the paper fairly dark. I try for consistency. Just as when building a house, an important foundation makes for a stronger house and less work further down the road. Then I use a soft sponge to really push the carboncino into the paper and fill in the tooth-y lines as much as possible.

In the close-up image of the figure drawing of Sara, you may see the difference between the roughly drawn-in charcoal (left above the head) and the sponged area afterwards (right). This is about all that I can do without the model present since all tones are relative. My background is too dark, but until I can be on -site and compare the tones on my paper to the tones I see before me, I cannot make my choices so easily. Especially since this is a new medium for me. Stay tuned . . . same bat channel.