Welcome to Old John's blog!

27 Oct 2009 3:25 AM

In today's art apreciation class, and I hope you will forgive any spelling errors, we were given a lecture about Lutchens the designer of wonderful buildings.

Like many men of his kind, to me a brilliant designer, he did not have the life you and I may call normal.

He was always uneasy about coming from a poor backgound. Never the less, he was aways working on something and loved to draw. Some of his line drawings, of people, are trully wonderful. 

He seemed to get on well with the ladies and one of his friends was Jeekle the plants women.  He knew her well enough to be able to call her 'Bumps but did not marry her.'

When he did marry, I have forgotten who he was married to, his marriage, from the day that he had his honeymoom, did not go well and the couple spent lots of time apart but their letters, and there were lots of them, were intimate and friendly. 

Having said that, Edwin did travel to far flung places when traveling was not an easy thing to do.  He went to India, for 23 years, one year at a time, while helping to design New Delie (I belive the old Delie was eventually pulled down)  and he visited places like Australia. 

For his work on New Delie, he received a knight hood.   

I am reminded, when I learn about such people, that there are some very clever people out there and for us to expect them to live what we would call normal lives is asking too much of them. 

On this occasion, in class, I was unable to take the usual note paper and pencil so I have lost out on much of the wonderful information inparted onto us.

Our speaker, who once taught in universities, always makes his classes very interesting for us.

Next month, and I cannot wait, it is going to be Mackintosh.  You will probably know that this man was a designer of wonderful furniture and building interiors. 

Mackintosh was not an easy man to work with, for he liked all his own way, but, when he went off to form his own company, I am afraid he priced himself out of the market he was keen to get into. 

Isn't it wonderful what you get to know at the U3A  meetings?

You may remember, I know my friend Deva does, about the man who takes us for drawing and he told me, when I was not doing exactly what he had been telling me to do, to 'stick to singing,' well, in the art apreciation class interval when we were learning about Lutchens, several ladies came to have a chat with me.  One lady, who could not draw when she first went to the U3A meetings, said that the same man, who had insulted me, insulted her.  Two more ladies said they had stopped going to his class for they felt intimidated by him.

The thing is, if  he could only understand that what works for one person may not always work for another person, then that  would be fine but, I am afraid to say, if you do not do it his way then it is the wrong way.

Up until I had had my ego dented by the drawing  instructor, I used to draw every day.  Sad to say, it has been a couple of weeks now since I have felt the need to put pencil to paper but I will get back to it soon.

Art, in my view, is a progressive thing that does not stop for there is always something new to learn.  At the moment, for it is a weak spot of mine, I am reading and trying to act upon the "Paint Mixers Bible."  I can do a reasonable drawing and, when I come to try and paint it, I often make an ash of the painting.
Tomorrow, if all goes well, I am going to a demonstration to watch a man paint in oils. 

If there was a medium out there, that did not effect my breathing, when it was being used, then I would use it instead of using water colour. 

For those of you that do not know, water colour painting presents all sorts of problems that acrylic and oils do not.  Water colour paints go on the canvas or 'support' light to dark and it is often thought best not to put more than three coats on top of each other.  I have to say that I have seen many coats of paint applied and the end results still looked good.

Acrylics and oils do not matter so much for darks are usually painted first. 

If you are thinking of doing some drawing, try using a 2b pencil and a 'putty' rubber.  An ordinery rubber often scuffs the surface of the paper you want to use. 

What I have to say to you now may seem crazy but it works.  Before putting your pencil on the paper, try using the hand that you normally do not use.  I am left handed so I would use my right hand.  When you come to use the correct hand, the one you usually use, you will note how freely you pencil strokes are.  This is exactly what you are looking for.

There is, in my view, no right or wrong way to draw but you really do need to learn how to make the pencil strokes fluid isnstead of laboured. 

One method I use, depending on how I feel at the time, is to draw as lightly as is possible, so that I can see my lines, and, when I have finished honing in on the finished work, I can begin to darken the lines with stronger strokes and shading.

Some people swear by cross hatching /// \\\\, you could say it is a way of putting the two lines, I have shown here, on top of each other.

You will find, on some occasions, that your drawing skills are far better one day than they are the next, it is just how it goes. 

Last year, just for the experience, I decided to take my drawing pad down into the woods.  I was early and expected having the wood to myself.

There was still dew in the air, the pine trees let off a wonderful sticky sweet smell, the sun had still to get up out of the sky and there were shadows everywhere. 

There was a slight breeze and I soon learned that elastic bands would always have to be carried, to keep my pages in place. On this occasion, I had taken several pencils with me and a good job too for I had forgotten to take a pencil sharpener. 

I used the trees as supports and I also tried sitting on old logs.  The peace, quiet and tranquility of the wood was wonderful and, for the first time, I gained lots of inspiration from the feeling I received in the wood.

To my surprise, when I had been drawing for some time, and out of know where, a young women came through one of the darkest parts of he wood.  She was using a mobile phone and had two wonderful dogs with her.  When she reached the spot where I was standing, she stopped talking, on the mobile, and passed the time of day with me as though she had known me for years.

Later, that same morning, a young man, walking his dog, again coming from know where, came to have a chat with me about my drawings. 

Looking back to those times, for it was a summer's morning when I went to the woods to draw, it seems a long time away for autumnal days are here and they are unpredictable. 

I suppose I aught to go down in the woods now that the leaves are falling.

By for now,

John.               

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