From Life at the Royal RA Academy of Art
This was a small but interesting exhibition starting with some 18th century life drawings, photographs from the RA collection and a collection of Jeremy Deller’s Iggy Pop Life Class. I took the opportunity to copy a Jeremy Day drawing which I liked because of its atmosphere.
They also had contemporary artworks from various others such us Lucian Freud, Jonathan Yeo, Jenny Saville and Chantal Joffe.
What impressed me most was the interactive works of artists Yinka Shonibare, Humphrey Ocean, and architect Farshid Moussavi, which gave visitors the opportunity to get a taste of technologies such as HTC Vive and Tilt Brush by Google. Such technologies give artists and the general public ideas on possible future applications for virtual reality in art.
Mall Galleries Coffee Morning - sketching ballet dancers - The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition,
The Coffee Morning featured dancers from the Central School of Ballet, an amazing and challenging experience as the dancers were moving all the time, and some of the work I did are included as part of my exercises.
The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition, presented a collection of amazing works, of which my favourite was 'Tanya, This is me' by Melodie Cook, a half length portrait done in pastel on 110 x 90 cm paper.
I found this a very moving painting - the strength and vulnerability on the face of the sitter is incredible, and the amount of detail and delicacy achieved by Cook is superb. The light colours of her face and upper body contrast strikingly with the tanned forearms, giving a sense of three-dimensionality, and leading one to suppose that Tanya is someone who spends her life outdoors.
National Portrait Gallery
This visit was to do some practise on head drawing from a three-dimensional bust, and I chose the bust of Sir Charles Napier, 1782-1853 Conqueror of Sind By George Gammon as my subject because the dramatic lights and shadows created by the lighting. Whilst my drawing is a little broader than the original I was fairly satisfied with the result.