Artist's Drawing & Inspiration
Oriental Girl
Ali gives an honest (and amusing) step by step account of her demonstration, from dismissing her initial idea of a self-portrait to gaining inspiration from a photo she’d taken on a recent trip to Japan.
STEP ONE
I actually planned to draw something completely different when I started. I thought I’d do a self-portrait. But soon after starting and spreading my pink on the paper I just knew this wasn’t going to work, so I followed my gut feeling and left that idea for another time. We had recently been on a holiday to Japan and as a result I had some lovely photos. Some of these I had already put into a computer folder called “art ideas 2011”. One of these was of a Japanese girl in a kimono. I had already played around with various colours and intensities on the computer, arriving at hot pinks and blues as the palette I wanted to use. Given pink was the colour I had started using for the self-portrait I made a practical decision and changed track to embark on my Oriental girl. I sketched in the basic placement of eyes, nose and mouth with charcoal. Then I used my blue to block in hair and kimono.
STEP TWO
I got my light blue soft pastel and mimicked some of the light and shade that I could see from the photo. I focused mainly on face and kimono. I couldn’t help but think of an alien head!
STEP THREE
I continued with the light blue soft pastel, but wasn’t entirely happy with the effect. At this stage I was thinking that I would have preferred less textured paper. I was also thinking about past pastel work and resisting the urge to return to old methods and approaches. I was also thinking I should fix the pastel as the light blue was muddying with the charcoal. Time for a change. Time to think less. Time for the darker blue. I love this blue. This is my hard Conte crayon blue. Then back to the charcoal to redefine eyes and hair. Thoughts of anime and large eyes crept in and I became less concerned about this image looking like a real person or a photo representation. “After all, anime is Japanese,” I said to myself.
STEP FOUR
Now this is where my husband would say ‘stop now’, in fact he generally likes my ‘step one’ work the best. I like this step four version. This version captures the Japanese face best – but I didn’t realise that until I looked over the photos when I had finished. She has fine features and whilst I don’t like the pink cheek I like the combination of blue and black. I could have, maybe should have, stopped here? I was cooking dinner and popping out to check on the chook and veges in the oven so perhaps this took my focus away? But you have to work with the time you have don’t you? Wishing for 10 hours of uninterrupted time is just wishful when you have two wonderful but busy kids, work full time and
share the parenting and household chores. Life is life. And if I follow Picasso’s lead in the Mystery of Picasso DVD, who cares that I kept going and making marks and blocking in colour? This is the learning journey.
STEP FIVE
Right, back from checking dinner again, now I decide to add some red. I love red and blue together. I decide to put down the picture I was using as a point of reference (possibly a mistake) and just go for it. I also use my soft (and expensive) black pastel which I know makes really black marks and I darken up the hair and eyes and add black lines to much of the picture. The face now moves to rounder and I start to think “not Japanese… Indian… Bollywood?” This is actually a process I like – when the object you are painting decides some things for you, where you can decide to go back, or to go to some new place. I like the red so much I decide to try a red background, but after I do it am not so sure.
STEP SIX
So the red background disappears and I am back to black. I get a light blue Conte crayon and do what I just did with the black. I go over key lines and I outline bits of hair, parts of the kimono, eyes, lips, and chin. It is starting to feel like an effort. I’m very aware this might be going in Artist’s Palette, and a little anxiety creeps in. My family isn’t home yet from a brief sojourn into town and the chook looks like it might burn if they aren’t back soon. Hmmmm. I go and look at my pastel portrait images on my wall by another favourite artist, Italian Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988). I seek his inspiration and take in his feathery black strokes around the faces of his subjects. Back I trot to my easel and feathery strokes arrive on my Oriental girl and on her clothing.
FINAL STEP
Time is up. Dinner is over, and it is the kids’ bedtime. I think I have lost interest. I look back over the photos I have taken and realise that I think I liked my fine faced step four version best. But I don’t feel like going back in time – even though you can do that with pastel pretty easily. She can be a Bollywood princess with a hint of Elvis. I don’t mind that her persona and characteristics have changed. I grab my white Conte crayon and add some final touches, a glint in the eyes, the line of the lip, and some strands of hair. My husband comments, “There is too much going on in this one, I like them when they are simpler”. And yes it is fairly busy. Will I tell him I had considered adding a background of wallpaper or snow sprinkled trees? If I follow my own motto, the end product isn’t everything. I enjoyed this time of drawing and experimenting, I fed my soul and now I am itching to get started on that self-portrait.
STEP FIVE
STEP SIX