Anatomy, part 2...

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks - too tired and forgetful. Anyway, the week before last Jan gave us the project of drawing an interior anatomy of one of our mythical beasts. We'd looked at several slides of anatomical diagrams from Western and Eastern art and I particularly loved the Tibetan ones, so I took the flavour of those lovely diagrams and explored my Lionagon. Jan also had some coloured vellum which is slightly transparent so I drew the two diagrams as "layers" to place over my original drawing, like medical textbooks with transparencies of body systems.

Maps are the focus of this week and next week so there is no finished work yet, stay tuned.

Anatomy, Jan-style...

Debbie and I were prepared to be drawing bits of each other - maybe a hand, maybe even our own off-hand, our feet as we looked down, our neighbour's profile as we drew but, no, Jan had other ideas. When she said anatomy she meant Gray's. Bits of kidney, heart, esophagus, cross-sections of spines, cuts through the thoracic cavity. Interior anatomy, dissection style. Fortunately we got to use anatomical studies as the basis of our drawings rather than the messier alternative. Unfortunately for me, we had to draw BIG. This time we had to fill a full drawing sheet of Stonehenge (22x30) and then use inks to shade and colour. I used an Amber and Blue ink on a kidney and this is the result - well bits of the result...

Fast & Loose...

An unnamed flower, more like a cone, with big fleshy leaves...
This was drawn on Mylar with ink...
Tonight Jan had us stand at easels (like real artists) and paint flowers in drippy wet ink on big sheets of paper. It was uncomfortable and so unnatural. As she passed each flower to me I found myself drawing smaller and smaller portions with tighter and tighter brush strokes - like a falcon circling in on prey. Any appearance of looseness was due to the limitations of the brush. I only became happy again when I taped up the small sheets of mylar on the big white sheet and used them as my target; small pictures filling all the space on a small canvas.

I'm sure there is a psychology to each artist's selection of space. The tension and anxiety of space unfilled; the comfort of nestling up to the edges. I like borders and plans, lists and lines. I also like the fun of transgression, an act which requires a boundary. Unsurprisingly I like tiny, bordered, dense needlework patterns, small engravings, illuminated letters, centres and borders, 5x5 square frames...

My Gerbera...

OK, I finally scanned it and my disatisfaction has abated. The critic does settle down after a while. Pencil on mylar is thicker and smudgier than on paper and much less amenable to shading strokes. Watercolour pencil is lovely but takes a long time to dry if you use too much water.

Next week we are exploring looser, less scientific botanical styles which will be good for the draughtsman in me.

Botanicals are harder than Beasts...

Beautiful isn't it?

Last night I drew one of these simple bold Gerbera Daisies. I love them for their intense colour and leafless stem. They are compact, graphical, tidy.

Alas, there is a reason that I posted a photo of one - drawing from life is the opposite: sprawling, smudgy, messy. There are no lovely black lines to copy; the proportion IS known and judgeable by all who look at it. I must learn to loosen up and to not require outlining!! Or to find a way to draw that allows me to be a draughtsman with organic subjects.

Jan showed us slides of botanical illustrations from the 16th Century onward. In one, DaVinci had grid lines visible; in another the outlined flowers had parts numbered. I would love to do something like that but feel inadequate when it comes to putting pencil to paper. Perhaps practicing will alow me to overcome the self-consciousness of doing something so studied. I'll try this weekend.

This evening's doodles...

A Wyvern and Squid...

And a Black Squirrel for my aunt in Australia...

Finally the scanner works...

The Mermopard...
The Beaveriwinkle...

and the Lionagon...

More beasts come into the world...

Last night's class was a continuation of the bestiary drawings. The evening was broken up with a birthday celebration for Jan, who turns 49 today. Happy Birthday, Jan! It seems Jan, Debbie and I shared a High School back in the 70s. And while I didn't know Jan then we were able to conjure up some shared memories. It's strange how when you start stirring the memory-muck things drift into view that shock you; "where did that come from?'" is a frequent question. The shock isn't for the images themselves, it's for the act of remembering. These memories are all fragments, usually visual - snapshots of people and places that have been kept by the brain for unknown reasons. Perhaps there is a cataloguing system that says "this is a good exemplar of 'Winskill Park' I'll keep that image for future reference". Because, when I think of Winskill Park I see a static image, perhaps a montage, of bleachers against green. I know Winskill Park is important in my teenage life, being the place where I taught Susan Evans and Debbie Dalgety to smoke (sorry girls), but obviously not important enough to keep a "movie" memory. Interesting.

As for the art, my new beasts are a Flying Beaver/Hermit Crab cross, and a Leopard/Mermaid - names are slow in coming.

Next week we begin the botanical drawings on mylar with Chinese ink. Hopefully I can get my scanner working and post some of the images

The Book Begins....

Tonight we began the first pages of our book with a pencil drawing of one of our bestiary animals. We each got a sheet (or more) of Stonehenge paper in warm white and a decision about what size to make our book. I chose to cut the paper into 16 to produce a lovely, small, non-intimidating book.

My theory of drawing: the larger the image the more you see the flaws, and everybody loves a miniature (OK, 2 theories).

I drew my "Lionagon" and, I swear, that paper made me a better sketcher! It was so smooth the pencil glided over the surface and it was easy to erase those lines that wandered off course. If I get my scanner fixed I'll post it.

Postscript: The Medieval fixation has a firm hold on me, I spent Sunday creating illuminated initials for half the alphabet. It was a fabulous day of watching football, drawing and painting.

The Bestiary

In our second class tonight we didn't actually draw a thing! We reverted once again to childhood and cut-out pictures. Jan had printed out gorgeous black-and-white pictures of animals, real and imagined, from etchings and woodcuts. Our mission was to chop them up and create beasts of our own fantasies for future drawings. We will be creating our own medieval bestiary and these animals will form part of our book project if we wish.

The class was silent as 8 women concentrated on cutting and pasting; the blissful silence of people enjoying what they are doing. Jan brought us ginger tea and chocolate and it was over too soon.

To see some fabulous beasts from 30,000 years ago visit this site:

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc

and marvel at the rhinoceros, mammoth, aurochs, horses and lions.

For more medieval visions, visit

Aberdeen Bestiary
The Medieval Bestiary

First Foray into Drawing

I just began this course last night and I am already smitten. When I got to dip my fingers, nay, my whole hand, into graphite powder and draw a "mystery" object on a huge piece of cartridge paper, I was transported back to the freedom of finger-painting. And the effect of the graphite powder on the skin of my fingertips was an added bonus - they shone with a dull metallic gleam; every ridge and whorl outlined in crime-committing relief.

If you live in Victoria (or Nanaimo) take a course with Jan, it will be worth it (click the title below).

Drawing: Historical Approaches

In this imaginative drawing course, participants apply their drawing skills to popular themes that have inspired artists throughout history, including mapping and creative cartographies; anatomical studies and illustration of the body; natural history and zoology in all its guises, Dutch still-life painting, botanical illustration and the history of the constructed animal. Classes will include a brief lecture/slide presentation introducing the various themes and drawing assignments, including a simple book project inspired by the material presented. Some drawing experience recommended, though not necessary. Jan Gates