Wednesday 9 July 2008

Help... she's painting people

... even worse: small people.

In the close, detail
In the close, Detail
Mixed media in small Moleskine

But thanks to Joan Eardley, I'm confident that a bit of over the top colour scheme along with collage will help me out with my poor people drawing skills.

This is a small detail (as in 3x2cm) of my entry into Lorraine's Moleskine. Theme: close. And playing to stereotypes, I'm sticking with a literal, physical Glasgow tenement close. Well, which is in fact a lot closer in many ways that are not literal, but that's by the by.

There is another detail in the Moleskine Blog, but I think that will be all the early gossiping you'll get about this one, until it's in Vivien's safe hands to post the whole sketch.

I think it's finished. But just in case it isn't, I'll put it to the side for a few days. It's fairly complex for a small Moleskine, so I'm sure I'll find a couple of things to play with when I look at it again.

The little child in a pram is in fact a steal straight out of one of Eardley's paintings... do you know which one?

5 comments:

harry bell said...

M y first thought was "Children, Port Glasgow" (1955) but now I guess it must be "Rottenrow" (1956).

Lindsay said...

You have her style down with your own unique touches.

vivien said...

as soon as the page opened I though 'Joan Eardley' - this looks great and I can't wait for it to arrive :>)

Gesa said...

Hi Harry! Well, well, well - first hit and there you go. Indeed: Rottenrow it is, with the pram at a different angle (not that that was on purpose). I had a look at Port Glasgow, yes, another pram.
I think Eardley helped me treating figures as made up of differently coloured shapes, and for the baby in the pram, that proved really helpful. The same goes with the collage: unpacking to be then rejoining.
Thanks, Lindsay and Vivien. I fear I may have already shown the best bits, but heyho... we'll seee :)

Lor Lor said...

Hi Gesa
I found a great book on Joan Eardley in the library at work, her work is just so lively and vibrant.Thank you for the intro to her. I don't know very much about scottish artists, I know more about irish artists especially as I work in the School of Art and Design at the University of Ulster.