the longest train trip
Went and did a class with my old art teacher to see what he could pass on about portraits. Our model was Rodriguez (ruh-dree-go), as soon as I was told his name, i forgot how to pronounce it and would try to recall it, running versions off my mouth. Later on when my nephews were looking at/admiring his charcoal portrait and asked who it was, I couldn't say. The classes worked the same as I remembered-sitting in peter's studio, a range of easels that are mobile, people's work pinned up on the walls and displayed. Still lifes executed with similiar technique to Clarice Beckett, portraits done in a range of oil colours to convey a man's face, canvases stretched, sheafs of oil and charcoal paper. Peter got our model to sit lotus style for up to an hour at a time, whilst he demonstrated how to draw the angles of a person's face, get their proportions, convey the light and shadows that come together as a face. Then I drew, whilst the rest painted. Their initial conversations and banter had me worried (children's career choices, private schools, the five hour public portrait session that had taken place the previous day as part of the moran prize), but then I wandered around and they could do it. They could paint and they could talk and they could pull together a colour palette from Peter's 5 choices he permitted us:
verte
ochre yellow
titanium red
? blue
White
He wanted us to mix together some greys, as in grey yellows, grey purples, grey greens, grey reds and use them to make a face. Then he wandered around, fiddled on his mac, changed CDs, told us when to break for afternoon tea, checked up on my status since leaving Adelaide and occasionally came and used the charcoal to rescue my drawing. He even sat on my chair and checked the proportions and said they were okay (good). This is giving me confidence, that I can draw... but it would take some work and a leap of faith to paint again. What i did like about his tuitition is how he taught mixing your palette.
After class i had to run off and catch a bus to Asher's child care which is part of the City West campus. I found him doing laps around the sandpit on a bike, and he was quite cooperative with grabbing his backpack, grabbing a bottle of water and walking to the train station. This part of the trip however took twice as long as I expected, even though he's quite good at walking for a toddler and doesn't throw tantrums. Other than getting distracted by the skaters on North Terrace, and grizzling a bit outside the Convention Centre (when he wanted to go up the escalators), he was very good. The fact that my bag broke dropping my art supplies on the pavement didn't concern him (nice young student boy packed it up for me and tucked the box under one arm, Asher under other arm, patient with me). He wore his paisley trousers and striped Bonds hoodie and shined out as such an easygoing toddler. On the train ride home he was happy looking out the window, pointing at occasional trucks, impersonating the sounds and using my paintbrush to do imaginary painting on his hands. Andrew collected us from the servo next to the train stop, and found him seated on the ground eating cheese and crackers, still enjoying his excursion. He's very adorable, with his good humour.
verte
ochre yellow
titanium red
? blue
White
He wanted us to mix together some greys, as in grey yellows, grey purples, grey greens, grey reds and use them to make a face. Then he wandered around, fiddled on his mac, changed CDs, told us when to break for afternoon tea, checked up on my status since leaving Adelaide and occasionally came and used the charcoal to rescue my drawing. He even sat on my chair and checked the proportions and said they were okay (good). This is giving me confidence, that I can draw... but it would take some work and a leap of faith to paint again. What i did like about his tuitition is how he taught mixing your palette.
After class i had to run off and catch a bus to Asher's child care which is part of the City West campus. I found him doing laps around the sandpit on a bike, and he was quite cooperative with grabbing his backpack, grabbing a bottle of water and walking to the train station. This part of the trip however took twice as long as I expected, even though he's quite good at walking for a toddler and doesn't throw tantrums. Other than getting distracted by the skaters on North Terrace, and grizzling a bit outside the Convention Centre (when he wanted to go up the escalators), he was very good. The fact that my bag broke dropping my art supplies on the pavement didn't concern him (nice young student boy packed it up for me and tucked the box under one arm, Asher under other arm, patient with me). He wore his paisley trousers and striped Bonds hoodie and shined out as such an easygoing toddler. On the train ride home he was happy looking out the window, pointing at occasional trucks, impersonating the sounds and using my paintbrush to do imaginary painting on his hands. Andrew collected us from the servo next to the train stop, and found him seated on the ground eating cheese and crackers, still enjoying his excursion. He's very adorable, with his good humour.
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