Drawing

Alfred Stevens – Sculptor. Blandford 1817 – 1875

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The famous sculptor Alfred Stevens was born in Blandford 200 years ago, there is a blue plaque on the wall of his house opposite my gallery. His artistic talent was spotted early, and large sums of money were found to send him to train in Florence from the age of 16 where he stayed for many years. The result of that training can be seen in a current exhibition of his works at the Blandford Town Museum (see below for more details). His drawings in particular are incredible, such beautiful and descriptive line-work. At the opening I asked whether I could sit and draw the lion sculptures and also create drawings and a painting of how he may have looked based on the bust, using colour references from his self-portrait. So far I have completed 3 lion drawings, this is a charcoal – the proud way he sits and the big paws and ruff remind me of our dear old Maine Coon Puss-cat. The original sculptures were made to go on the railings outside the British Museum in London, although they now reside inside. Stevens also designed the monument of the Duke of Wellington in St Paul’s Cathedral.
There will be a lecture about his life and work on the 23rd September, see below for details or visit the website. I highly recommend you visit this exhibition at the museum, Bere’s Yard. Blandford, Dorset DT11 7HQ. Tel 01258 450388. Open Monday to Saturday, 10-4 daily until 31st October 2017. The museum if full of fabulous items and information about our beautiful Georgian town and is well worth a visit.

The famous sculptor Alfred Stevens was born in Blandford 200 years ago, there is a blue plaque on the wall of his house opposite my gallery. His artistic talent was spotted early, and large sums of money were found to send him to train in Florence from the age of 16 where he stayed for many years. The result of that training can be seen in a current exhibition of his works at the Blandford Town Museum (see below for more details). His drawings in particular are incredible, such beautiful and descriptive line-work. At the opening I asked whether I could sit and draw the lion sculptures and also create drawings and a painting of how he may have looked based on the bust, using colour references from his self-portrait. So far I have completed 3 lion drawings, this is a charcoal – the proud way he sits and the big paws and ruff remind me of our dear old Maine Coon Puss-cat. The original sculptures were made to go on the railings outside the British Museum in London, although they now reside inside. Stevens also designed the monument of the Duke of Wellington in St Paul’s Cathedral.
There will be a lecture about his life and work on the 23rd September, see below for details or visit the website. I highly recommend you visit this exhibition at the museum, Bere’s Yard. Blandford, Dorset DT11 7HQ. Tel 01258 450388. Open Monday to Saturday, 10-4 daily until 31st October 2017. The museum if full of fabulous items and information about our beautiful Georgian town and is well worth a visit.

I will be there at random times, please contact me on 07985 027495 if you would like to find out when.
I would like to thank Sylvia Hixson-Andrews for making this project possible, and for everyone who has made me so welcome there.

Christmas Orders:
On a different note – it is that time of year again. If anyone is thinking of ordering a commissioned piece of artwork as a Christmas gift, please let me know as soon as possible as I am about to start advertising, and it is always good if I can be organised and space out the work as much as possible. The slightly daunting thing about this time of year is that all the deadlines to complete work are – Christmas! After Christmas I will be mostly working on a new exhibition for Dorset Art Weeks 2018.

Time Flies

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(edited as I initially wrote most of this in August…)
Summer has surprised me once again, by vanishing so quickly, I can’t believe how the time flies. I finished my training at The Sarum Studio for the time being, but have booked in to return in February to paint for 5 weeks. The aim this summer was to finish what I refer to as the “never-ending-renovation” of my house, and I have become a renovating hermit, traditionally lime plastering, wallpapering, putting up coving, sanding floors and decorating etc, as well as working on commissions in between. Needless to say that after 9 years, I still haven’t finished, and have had to scale back my rather optimistic finish date due to the 13 commissions currently on order, and 2 more on the horizon.
My father always used to say ‘work hard, play hard’ however he just worked – 80 or 90 hours a week. I do a fair bit of both.
I find that the busier life is, the faster time seems to pass, and the years zoom past at an unnerving rate. It is rare that I take time out just to chill out and relax, saying that, many of the renovating tasks, in a similar way to creating artwork feel like a meditation in one way or another.
As too many people have seen over the years, the house is a horrible chaotic building site.
The main part of the old and wonky listed building being completed will be a huge milestone, on a project which has already taken 9 years – I am sure most people would have been able to build a castle in that time…
Still, it is starting to look good, progress is a very satisfying thing and it was great to be able to move out of sleeping in the lounge recently. As I type this, I look forward to completing the lime washing of the hallways tomorrow and move the ladders which everyone has had to squeeze past all summer.
People ask what I will do when it is finished? I have it all planned – I am looking forward to dedicate more of my time to art, long walks, having friends round for coffee, yoga, reading books, watching films, I can’t wait for that to happen – next year…..
Happy equinox. Annabelle

Here is a charcoal of one of the models at The Sarum Studio.

Charcoal Drawing from live sitting at The Sarum Studio by Annabelle Valentine

Capturing a Moving Target

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Life drawing is not something I have done much of in the past, even though it has happened at the gallery on a regular basis. So it was with much trepidation that I signed up to the Old Masters course, which is half life drawing/painting, and half portrait work.
We set up every morning and work on the same pose usually for one or two weeks.
I say the same, however I have been surprised at how little attention is paid to whether the model gets back into the exact previous position.
It seems that my tutor Nick uses this approach in order to teach us how to deal with it.
There are various techniques that we use, and although I was totally stumped initially when the image in front of me seemed to bear little resemblance to what I had just drawn, this is something I am gradually starting to get used to – there is much talk of finding ‘the gesture’ or feel of the pose.
Although the lighting is excellent and well controlled, the shadows still tend to move around a lot throughout each session.
Photos don’t have a habit of moving, which is why I have found them so much easier to work from in the past, but I am finding the life drawing both challenging and enjoyable in equal measures.
My knowledge of anatomy is starting to improve too.
The image here has been done on Ingres paper with Nitrile charcoal sharpened to a point.
It looks a bit fluffy and grey because of the paper.
I have since progressed to using his preferred Roma paper, the charcoal goes on really dark on Roma making for more dramatic images, I am glad the poses are long as it is £11 a sheet!

The model showed considerable professionalism during the pose as the Wren Hall is huge and not the warmest, especially when there was frost most days, and even several inches of snow one morning. Oh and the heating broke down, brrrrr.

Here is a photo of the life drawing. I drew the loin cloth in afterwards to protect his modesty in the gallery window, it was that or a fig leaf!!

Below is a photo of one of the snowy days we had taken last month from the steps of Wren Hall where I study. I’ll add some more on Facebook later including some strange spiky ice. I’ve never seen anything like it!

A beautiful sunny day in the snow at Salisbury Cathedral.

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