Sculptural drawing and drawing sculpture
It’s been said that I draw in a very sculptural way – perhaps not so surprising when I tell you I studied 3D design and spent the first half of my creative career making 3D things. I’ve always had an affinity with form, which translates into my drawings whether I want it to or not.
This week in my ‘drawing movement project’ I paid homage to my sculptor heroes Rodin, Michelangelo and the ancient Greeks, all part of a lineage of artists who made stone appear to move.
Images of these sculptures have lived on my studio wall for years and I examined them more closely through drawing.
When I first saw the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum at the impressionable age of 14, I was astounded at the vitality and movement captured in these lumps of stone. Though their presence in London is very problematic I’m incredibly glad I’ve had the chance to see and sketch them.
The unfinished-ness of Michelangelo’s Six Prisoners sculptures (also known as slaves) is very appealing to me. That tension between finely worked and rough stone surfaces is wonderful and I see parallels in the contrasting textures of decaying oaks.
Soft charcoal pencils were perfect for this set of drawings, giving me sensitive lines capable of being smudged into bolder areas of tone. I found that the process of drawing what I thought I knew revealed far more than I’d noticed just through looking. It felt like a kind of interrogation and I ended the drawings with an even deeper respect for the artistry of those sculptors.
I consider myself very lucky to have seen all these sculptures in person, including this one in the Musée Rodin.
See the whole sketchbook here:
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As this studio project progresses I get the sense that threads are being pulled together, ever so slowly but gathering creative thoughts in exciting new ways – more soon…