ArT aNd PaPeR cLaSS

Marbling Paper Processes:

First you dab a bunch of marbling paint on the liquid on the tray

Next you take a stick and run it back and forth across the materials

Take the rake and brush it down

Weave this crazy lookin' thing around in a cool pattern

Rinse in the sink and you're good to go!

Thursday, October 3rd

I started off the morning with a nice walk through Regents Park with the company of Deb, to collect some fresh flowers and other organic materials for the book I am making for my Art and Paper class. I was inspired by the park when I went to draw yesterday afternoon, so I think that I am going to them my “mica book” to the manner of organic beauty, inspired by the roses in the park.

I went to Art and Paper class, and we worked a bit on these books, and started marbling paper. It is an incredibly easy process compared to the extravagant end result that comes of it. I forget the name of the liquidy substance, but you pour some of it into a tray, and then dab paint on top of it and then take this needle to mix it around. Then you simply take a sheet of special paper, lay it on top, peel it off so the paint sticks to it, and you have a beautiful piece of paper. I am excited to try some new techniques with this. It is amazing how simple it is, and what an intricate end result you achieve.

Went and had lunch, got some groceries, and then went over to the events office to do some investigating on some upcoming trips we wanted to go on. I found out that two of them were sold out already, so that put a bit of a damper on our plans. We will have to do more investigating on other ways to get to these places.

Later, I left to go to life drawing with Diane. It was a most interesting evening…
Everything went smoothly on the tube, even though it was incredibly crowded with rush hour. Wow, it was packed. We got off at Bethnal Green and walked a ways, stopped to admire a church and the sign on it that said “life drawing” but just figured it was farther down the road because it looked farther away on the map- not directly off the tube station. We walked a ways and got directions from some locals, and ended up about a mile or so away. We stopped with two young girls to look at their map, and started heading back the direction we came, stopped to look at a bus station map, and realized that the church we originally passed, was in fact the church we needed to go to, despite our further expectations.

We entered the church, and I was rather nervous because it was my first life drawing experience. I wasn’t really nervous about the model itself, but simply the fact that I have never done this before, and have little knowledge of the subject. I guess I should give myself a little credit, because I have tried gesture drawings and know a little about the layout of a figure drawing course, but I just have no previous experience actually doing it, so that made me a little nervous.

It was definitely an interesting evening. The model was a very, very large man, and we thought that we would be drawing in some back room to the church or something. Nope, he was right on the altar, right underneath the crucifix. Hm. Diane reminded me of the exhibit we went to in Salzburg, and the 7 deadly sins were running through my mind.

About halfway through the session, there was a tea and cookie break, and model man decided to show off some of his ballerina skills to some of the little kids sitting in on the session. Don’t’ worry, he was clothed for this. It was still interesting to see young children participating in a life drawing session. I don’t know if that would have been as accepted in the states…

As the session went on, I really started to enjoy what I was doing a lot more. I started to much more affectively capture the gestures and forms, and had a few drawings that I was somewhat happy with by the end of the evening.

We left at about 9:30 or so, and went back on the tube. Diane and I discussed lots of horror and success stories with models that she had hired in the past that were quite entertaining. I felt a lot better about the awkwardness between us after this night, as I think that drawing one on one with her is going to make things a lot better. We made it back to the station, and as we were trying to check out with our oyster cards, she couldn’t find hers and ended up having to look through all of her bags for a while. I went back downstairs to check if it dropped en route, and as I came back up she found it in her pocket. It was pretty funny.

I went to the ISH bar because it was karaoke night and I promised Rachael I would sing with her. I ran into Heather and Katie in the bathroom and they asked me how the session went, and I gave them the condensed story, which they thought was hilarious. Went inside, watched some horrible singers, some decent singers, and just danced and hung out with everyone for the rest of the nite.