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Ok, folks.
Here is the new assignment that I'm proposing to you, if you would like to take up the challenge! (hoping Royce and Doug approve.) It's a "Research & Development" exercise, designed to get you to LOSE your inhibitions, to experiment, to experience something different, to awaken notions that had not occurred to you before. (lol. Don't know if you have done this before, but there's no harm in experimenting with it again!). It involves MONTAGE, where you prepare your paper – canvass – whatever – with strips of newspaper or magazine glued to the surface. THEN, using the medium of your choice, (I'm thinking perhaps of water colour, acrylics or even oils) working over the surface when it has dried, with a line drawing, or perhaps with just patches of colour, working with any of the poses in the particular folder that I have chosen from Ben's huge and wonderful repertoire. You may care to prepare two or three – or even more montages, prepared in different ways beforehand, before you start experimenting with your paint brush.
Prepare your montages before you even THINK of choosing one of the poses. Just prepare two or three; will only take you about 20 minutes. The sizes of the paper is up to you. It doesn't have to be expensive stuff. Shelf paper or brown wrapping paper would suit the purpose well. Squeeze or pour some PVA glue or acrylic medium into a little container of some sort, and provide yourself with a little jar of water. Grab an old newspaper and/or magazine, and tear a page or two from them. Try tearing them in different directions. In one direction the tears will wander all over the place and you'll end up with odd shapes. This may be to your liking for gluing down. Try tearing in the other direction – probably DOWN the page – and you'll find it will tear in long strips, which you might like to paste down in criss-cross fashion. It's best if you thin the PVA with a little water, so dip your brush into the water jar each time you pick up some of the medium, with a little mix, at the edge of the container. The whole paper will be dry within 10 minutes.
The folder of pose references that you can choose from, kindly provided by Ben, that I have chosen for this assignment because of the strong lighting, can be seen here:
http://imageevent.com/justmeina/rd229
It is not obligatory to depict the whole figure. You could just mainly concentrate on a part that you consider to be important.
I am making two attempts at this assignment myself. For the first I chose no. 18, and the second, no. 44. I have opened a new folder in "Photos" labelled R&D 229 to show you how I am progressing with each of them. The second one is not finished. I've discovered that water colour does not sit very well on top of dried PVA glue. So I thought I would proceed with acrylics, only to find that all my tubes of acrylics have gone hard! So, I shall be working on it today using water soluble oil colour, that I can use thickly. I may add a little PVA medium to it in the dish. I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience. I hope you do too!
With the first attempt I wanted to use some thin white tissue paper over the top of the newsprint; couldn't find any; had LOADS of pink stuff, though! LOL. I think I am more pleased with the second stage, the first stage using paint; I feel it was more abstract and thought provoking. With the second attempt I didn't bother with the pink stuff; I just criss-crossed the newsprint across and down. You can see these in <Photos><R&D 229>.
This is the folder that you can all put your own efforts into also
I'm not placing any time restriction for this assignment. There doesn't seem to be any need. We'll just see how it goes.
All the best,
Ronnie.
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