figure drawing Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Photo for Friday

Chugging along on the latest watercolor painting and I see some darks creeping in in places. Well, something has to happen in between the figures. It can’t all be light, airy and flowery. I may lighten up the space from mid paper and up. I thought I would make believe the people were dancing outside somewhere, but I might practice what I’m planning on another paper.

I added values and skin tones while trying to give the figures some grounding or they will float. What else can I say? It doesn’t look like this is going to be a fun, free wheeling painting. Maybe trees and sky in the background will make it look more “fun”?

Whatever happens, happens. And that’s that.

Photos Friday

This is a series of pastel drawings of the bas reliefs which were pilfered from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece during the time of Lord Elgin. The original sculptures are housed in the British Museum from which Greece has been trying to get these, and other sculptures, returned to their rightful country.

I am fascinated by the movement of the figures and the play of dark and light shadows on the forms. Using pastels offers an energy I enjoy feeling from the direct contact to the surface as I hold the medium. It’s exciting and I move to the different colors automatically. When I’m finished, I’m not really sure what I’ve come up with! But I get like that with most of my work. Drawing is just so much more intense for me.

In the book of photos I used for this series I always see something new. It’s almost as good as live models, but not quite the same. And models don’t bring horses.

Elgin Marbles Series #1-5 18 x 24 #1 8×10 Pastel on toned pastel paper ©Dora Sislian Themelis

A Blast from the Past

Going through some past artwork, I dug up the charcoal figure drawings I drew in college. As art students usually do, we had to respond to the nude figure with charcoal on these huge, 24x 36 newsprint pads. Quick, expressive studies of short poses and more intense drawings of longer poses of either male or female models are the norm when learning one’s art.

When I was in school the models we liked most were those that had an animal quality about them. Let me say right now that this was the later 1970’s, with leftover Woodstock hippies mingling with new disco people. Interesting to say the least.

Two models come to mind, a male and a female. The female model was quite interesting as she was a large girl with wiry red hair and set up interesting backdrops for her poses. In between poses, she would retreat to the next studio room for her break. There her chiropractor would set up a portable massage table and give her adjustments, which was as fasinating as her poses!

When the favorite male model would be posing we were in for a treat! He also had big, wiry hair, was really tall, lean and muscular. This wasn’t the exciting part. His poses were big and theatrical. He would bring huge tree branches or spears to pose with and made his body do strange stances in front of a blaring light to emphasize the shadows of his body and props.

Yeah, that was always a really good drawing day.