This weekend I spent the day at the V&A museum doing Sketchout's Fundamentals of Drawing class.
The first task was a two hour sketch. I chose Rodin's 'Cybele'. This was a very dark statue with a lot of detail and I chose to sketch this one mainly because I felt it was the most challenging of the selection we were given for this first session.
The second task was a 15 minute 'expressive drawing' for which I chose this statue of Narcissus. The rules were not to lift your pencil from the paper and no rubbing out. This was my least favourite of the sketches I produced on the day however I did find it a really useful exercise and learning tool.
This is the second of my 15 minute expressive drawings. The difference with this task was to use your non writing hand. I have never before attempted to draw left handed and found it a really exciting and useful excercise. Losing the precise control you have with your writing hand allows you to sketch more freely and expressively focusing more on the essence and mood of the piece than accuracy.
For my final two hour sketch of the day I chose The Bather by Albert Toft. This was a very pale white statue which I chose to do in contrast to the earlier very dark Rodin I had sketched in the morning. I wanted to exercise different techniques including the use of using the background to really lift the subject from the page.
