Life Drawing 3. Tonal feedback.

In the crit at the end of the life drawing session asked why I painted on a loud pink spray painted background, I blurted out something to do with music feedback as a base for extemporising on. Having a strong thing to react to and work with. it gives me a head-start into the image rather than the sterile blankness of white. The tones really excite the eyes.

The life model only curled her lip for a second, just before a yawn. It was the expression that went with the pose and the colour.

Here’s a close up. I feel there might have been a progression in this lesson. I am so pleased with this I ‘ve signed it.

This image has hints of my obsession with Matisse and his ‘bathers’, which I saw in Chicago. https://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/220/2279

The lesson was about building the image up through tones against dark and midtone grounds. These works were great fun to do but needed extra work after the class, which meant I’m rather tired while writing this.

This is a great pose. The life model fainted mid pose, but came back to finish the stance like a trouper. Lots of chalk was involved in this.

Here’s two examples of what I’m trying to do visually in music.