April - Week 3

Written 23/04/2025, Updated 24/04/2025

Sketching ideas

Life is interesting sometimes, with serendipity!

My original plan had been to go out and observe people in my surroundings (maybe in a cafe) and sketch someone sat down in a similar-ish pose (I very much wanted to base the final piece on a sketch done in real life). However, on Easter Sunday this year I went to see my partner's family and in particular my partner's sister who agreed to pose for a drawing! (I started drawing her slightly 'stealthily' but she agreed to stay in the pose once she realised what I was doing!)

Pencil sketch of a young woman with glasses sat at a table
I made a note of the colours of everything for the final painting (I also took a photo though I have tried not to use it too much)

Once I had done that drawing, over the next few days I went back to my 'main' sketchbook and first did a practise outline of The Girl In Profile

A rough copy of the girl in profile in a navy blue felt tip pen
I wanted to get a good idea of the shape of the picture (also how the hair and shawl share shape language in a possibly intentional way to make the hair seem much longer?)

Then I did practise outlines of my subject. I did two so I could get more practise and in a way emulate Gwen John more since she often did multiple drawings of the same subject/pose. I ended up basing these on the drawing and on the photo I had taken despite the poses not being identical as I wanted to copy her appearance and not just the drawing, but then I did also want to capture the 'livliness' of my drawing that just copying the photo wouldn't bring.

A rough copy of the above sketch but in red pen
So in this initial 'copy' I think I lent too hard into the photo rather than the sketch (I'm not posting the photo for privacy reasons but I will say that she was looking towards the camera whereas while I drew her in person she was looking away), and so her pose looks too... posed?
A rough copy of the above sketch but in red pen
I think this version looks a lot better and more like the real person, in this version I did more 'compositing' than in the first picture. I also started with her hair rather than her face which I think helped as in the painting the Girl's hair is more defined than her face (in my opinion)

Finally, I did some painting practise to get a good gauge of the colours I would be using (with actual oil paint this time since I managed to find some - from Lidl lmao). I started with a copy of the Girl in Profile to try to 'train' my eyes for muted colour palettes. I then did a practise version of my final piece once I had familiarised myself a bit with the painting palette.

A basic painting of the Girl in Profile (a more vibrant colour palette too)
The strokes are much flatter due to limited time but the thing that annoyed me was how vibrant this looks! I just couldn't get the colours to be muted enough, I sort of worked out that I need more brown and grey rather than black and white to 'muddy' the colours but only after I was almost finished! (ah well, this is what this was for...)
A basic painting of a young woman sat at a table, wearing green glasses
Yeah... freckles are hard to paint (I think for the final one I will add them on with pencil at the end...). Aside from that I'm happy with the composition and for the final piece will try to 'texture' it more in line with what Gwen John's Girl in Profile looks like (I also don't like the 'hard' lines, hopefully will look like shading with more layering)

How the process is going

Slower than I would like I will say!

However, I will say that I have REALLY enjoyed this. It has felt more 'spontaneous' since I am taking something from life that happened without prior planning. It just feels really freeing :)
Although my final piece is more 'planned', it still stemmed from something spontaneous so I'm exited to work on it, the only issue is that I didn't plan ahead and get a canvas earlier in the month and I won't be able to get one until the 26th (and won't be able to make a start until the 27th) so it feels like I'm wasting time which is frustrating (planning is important!)

Anything I have learnt

I have learnt the importance of seeing where things take me, I didn't have a rigidly planned final piece in mind at the start of the month and I'm really happy where things have gone in that regard. I have also learnt that oil paint takes ages to dry (even a thin layer!)