I’ve realised that I haven’t updated this site for well over a year. I think it is time to move on, this form of blogging seems a bit archaic. I’ve been documenting my art on Instagram for several years now, and although it has some shortcomings, I think on balance it is where I am going to stay. So if you are interested in my art (and thank you if you are) you will find me at julian.swindell on Instagram now. Feb 10, 2022
In between lockdown these classes restarted in Victoria Works studios. It was good to get back together but now alas we are back on Zoom. These are some of the works I produced.
So we are back in covid lockdown. That will be the theme of life for a while I fear. Art gives us an outlet and purpose which I am thankful for. I’ve been doing little drawings. Partly so I can concentrate on detail, partly as it is quicker and mainly because I am running out of storage volume. One of the first things I’ve drawn small is a little lapis lazuli bead I wear around my neck on a leather thong.
I started with a watercolour wash and then lots of dense colour pencil work. It is always surprising how many colours are needed.
The two sides of the bead are quite different, with many pyrites inclusions on one side, so I drew then both and then mounted them in a frame.
I’m very fond of this little bead. Lapis was the source of original ultramarine and I think of it as the artist’s gemstone. I wear it all the time. When I go swimming in the sea it is usually all I wear to preserve my modesty. Seems to work.
I use a spare bedroom as my studio. A North light through a roof window, but a bit gloomy. It is fantastic to have a room of my own.
I have done a lot of drawing in my boat. Cramped, but if it is warm you can get out to stretch and swim.
I love life drawing, but all classes were cancelled during the lock down. There was a huge boom in life drawing via Zoom, with models desperate to carry on working somehow. I’d never done it before, but it does feel a bit like very soft porn at first. Looking at naked people over the Internet. But it works.
There seem to be two approaches. Live or saved videos of models posing, or still photos to work from. Pros and cons to both. One definite pro is that models can adopt extremely foreshortened poses, with the camera below their feet or over their heads or in very difficult/unstable poses which they can’t hold for more than a few seconds. These are just a few. There are so many that I have been binding them into collections.
An excellent evening with a wonderful model who had come from Bristol by train. That involved getting a bus from Swindon when the train was cancelled. Dedication. I tried charcoal, two-colour pencil and then a quick sketch just in pencil. As always, the quick sketch looked best, but I felt it was very incomplete
Our model had extraordinary tattoos. I often don’t draw tattoos as I think they can detract from the modelling of the body. But in her case, I felt she was incomplete without them. It isn’t up to me to decide how she should be seen. She clearly had her own ideas of how we should see her. I didn’t have much record of her tattoos, but photos on her Instagram account gave me the basics, and the rest I made up. Whether it is a better drawing, I can’t say, but it is much more her than the plain sketch.
I’ve been attending the Stroud Life Class drop in Saturday sessions quite regularly this autumn. They have had a succession of excellent models, which is such a good experience.
I’ve stopped going to the life classes at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester this year. I had become tired of the lack of variety in the models. We kept getting the same ones again and again. I’ve been compensating by going to the Saturday afternoon drop in life sessions at the Centre for Arts And sciences in Stroud, run by Keith Simmons. He seems to get an endless stream of new models every week. The most recent was an excellent young woman from Argentina, who was modelling for, I think, the first time, in place of her boy friend. He was the planned model, but had a rotten cold so was sitting the session out as one of the drawers. These images cover a few sessions over the last few weeks.
Back at Ardington School of Craft a few weeks ago to learn how to make a half leather bound sketchbook. I find book binding a very satisfying craft, and I love to make my own sketchbooks. I haven’t bought one for a couple of years now. This one looks almost professional.
As promised, a very small selection of the astonishing range of work produced over the week. We had an end of course show in the golf club. I can’t credit each of the artists I’m afraid as I didn’t take notes. Inspiring and also a bit frightening. Where do I even start?
JEGS ART 