Recently, I have been thinking a lot about where I would like to go with my drawings and especially my life drawings.
I am co-organizing a weekly life drawing class in my North Vancouver studio and every week we meet for a 3 hours session.
Our group Simply Drawing has been going on for at least the last 3 years and we often joke about the frustration of seeing very slow progress in our drawing skills. But then I am also thinking that if we were to become too exact in our renderings of the human body, we might end up with drawings that would look way more similar one to another than they do now.
Drawing by Sandrine Pelissier- Model Shelley
What I like about our drawings is the fact that not two drawings are alike and they are as personal as handwriting. And I feel that, with drawing, what you gain in precision or exactitude you might loose in style.
Or maybe I should just consider that there are 2 types of drawings: Classical realism drawings and what I would call modern drawings. As much I can see the amazing skill sets it takes to make a classical realistic drawing, I am not interested in trying to reach that level of perfection. I like to see a bit more of a personal touch in drawings, a bit more of a personal style. Maybe our inexactitudes are part of what is making our drawings ours, in a way I am embracing our shortcomings 🙂
Also I think some media are better suited for an exact rendering of what you see like photography, I think drawing should leave ample room for interpretation.
Here is a gallery of drawings made by some of our class members, you can see how our drawings look very different from one another :
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Originally from France, I have been living in North Vancouver, Canada for the past 20 years.
My work has been collected and exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. I am also part of the Art Rentals and sales program of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Many of my paintings have been published in Art books and magazines (Artist Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Acrylic Magazine, International Artist Magazine). I wrote 2 art instruction books with North Light/F+W Books.
I have been writing for the last 5 years for my blog: paintingdemos.com, that has a mailing list of about 10 000 subscribers and about 20 000 visitors per month.
I am an active member in the community, as a co-founder of the North Shore Art crawl, a co-founder of a weekly life drawing group, a board member of the North Vancouver Arts Council, and have been invited as a juror for public art, art grants and juried exhibitions. You can read more about my collaborations here.
Beautiful drawings, Sandrine! Thank you for sharing. I agree with you that modern drawings, though slightly imperfect, are more expressive of the individual artist than classical figure drawing. Draw on, and best wishes for a successful show!
Comments (2)
Ruth Armitage
Beautiful drawings, Sandrine! Thank you for sharing. I agree with you that modern drawings, though slightly imperfect, are more expressive of the individual artist than classical figure drawing. Draw on, and best wishes for a successful show!
Sandrine Pelissier
Thanks Ruth! Happy to see you are also enjoying the beauty of imperfection 🙂