All of the Drawings
So I am stuffing all of the drawings in this post here which I am uploading not even on a Sunday but sometime mid-week (what day is it?), I will blame it all on the lockdown where days float into each other and the lines between night and day are blurred. The cat comic can be found on my instagram @theplumtree2 , with the GN I really don’t want to show too much of the prep work which inches along, the life drawing is from my first Zoom session where the model sat within a cube frame, and the Matera sketchbook gets a few more drawings when I remember or when I want to procrastinate with other things.
Stuff
The first two photographs are preparatory work for a graphic novel. I don’t really want to show the images in detail since it is at the incubation stage. It is slow, careful work like slowly solving a difficult puzzle which leads you to the next stage, difficult because this is my first graphic novel form short story. When you think you have made progress and can turn a page, you realize that the “right alignment” is not properly done and has to be redrawn. Then you look through all the pages and you realize another page would look better if redrawn, and that page is made up of three small pictures…so on it goes. This is what an author writing a novel must feel like, rewriting paragraph after paragraph.
The charcoal drawing is a spontaneous drawing drawn over an older incomplete image. It is of a well inside a forest.
The Nudge that Makes a Difference
On Sunday, I ventured “out” for the first time after the lockdown, hoping to sketch at Lalbagh. It was closed so we drove down to Siddapur Nurseries where I repotted my pots with fresh soil, bought a maiden’s hair fern and then we sat in the shade and sketched quietly. The relief of getting out and chilling out was enormous. I came back with my head filled with plants and this picture is a depiction of that. The other picture is of the colourful Mangoes I bought at Namdhari’s. They had to be drawn. Because of Hello Every Sunday, I nudge myself to DRAW. The effect on the well being is enormously beneficial.
Experimentations
All kinds of experimentations happened last week. I wanted a poem to illustrate in ink, an online friend suggested one by Langston Hughes, I did it using printing techniques with graphite on rice paper instead. I like the unusual effect that has resulted and I will try more like these.
Lockdown Drawings
If I don’t draw then I don’t feel very good. Drawing is almost like a pill that one takes everyday in order to feel good. However it took a while for me to remember that, what with distractions of Netflix and reading. Now it feels good to get back to HES again.
Plunging into Challenges
Last week I decided to tackle the difficult things I was putting off. The first challenge was to draw the ancient city of Matera. These are my first attempts above and below using watersoluble graphite. I don’t quite know what to think of it but it is my initial foray into drawing a mass of buildings, something I usually avoid.
I am taking the tentative and cautious steps into creating a graphic novel form short story. It seems there is no prescribed formula so everyone figures out their own path as they go along. I am trying to create mine. Two of the more interesting panels feature depictions of claustrophobia and I’ve tried sketching them out in the drawings below.
Week 17, Miscellaneous
For this week’s HES, I felt like drawing what came to mind each day, without any plan or specific intent. There’s not much unity in this week’s body of work. It ranges from abstract painting to tiny simplified animals, to more detailed illustrations.
Gesso, acrylic, pastel pencils and white gel pen on watercolor paper
Alcohol inks on polypropylene paper
Left: acrylic and pastel pen on watercolor paper, Right: acrylic on black watercolor paper
Acrylic on watercolor paper
Life Drawing
The life-drawing sessions I attend are very intensive. Three hours non stop drawing can sometimes seem like an army drill: One minute! 2 minutes! 5 minutes! 15 minutes! The model must have incredible energy as do some of the participants who draw really well and very quickly. While my drawings might not be the greatest and are still very tentative, the improvement compared to the previous session is huge. I like the last one I did the best. It is bold and done with an insouciance that is missing in the other images.
Week 16, CATharsis
Our cat Roupie was hit by a car last Sunday and it left me a bit broken and empty. I won’t get into the specifics of why he was so important to us, but his sudden death, amidst all of what we’ve gone through these past years has taken a toll, and it makes the grieving process that much harder.
I think I needed to draw him, as a kind of catharsis. I don’t want to shy away from the many photos we have taken of him in the 8 years he’s been with us. I want to be able to look at these images and remember him fondly.
I find it utterly difficult to draw felines, there is something elusive about them, but Roupie is worth the extra effort. I attempted to draw his essence, his attitude and energy. He was a laid back, social and adventurous cat.
I used a textured watercolor paper (except for two drawings), which is not the best for pencil, but I’m considering adding color.
Roupie enjoying a ray of sunlight… He had the hugest mittens of them all and the silkiest fur.
Roupie in one of his classic sleeping poses. This cat might’ve had some hare DNA.
In the next two images (two different drawings), I drew Roupie from a picture taken at the crematorium, moments before his incineration. I know it may sound gruesome, but it takes away the power these images have on me. I don’t think I could’ve done it if he looked tortured, but he kind of looked asleep.
And probably because life is all about balance, Belu decided to pose besides his brother’s drawing. This one is very much alive and purring…
There are three more drawings of him that I don’t show here. I just couldn’t get the right expression on his face.
Farewell Gredin Soyeux, you will be missed…
Week 15, The strange farmyard, part 3
These are the new hens for this week’s HES. I also added a bit of vegetation. The next week will be spent drawing a few brooding hens and more plants. Soon, there should be enough material to work on a final collage.
Gesso, acrylic, pastel pencils and white gel pen on watercolor paper
There is clear and present danger for the hens, as a predator seems intent on playing with the pieces of the puzzle.