3D, Life Drawing

3D and Life Drawing...

In the 3D session, we experimented with plaster.

- I rolled out a rectangle of clay on a board and made some impressions, using the edge of a wooden stick. 
- I rolled out some thick walls and attached them, making sure there were no gaps which the plaster might leak through.
- I laid out a sheet of plastic, because the next bit is messy: mixing up the plaster of paris.  I two-thirds filled a rubber bowl with lukewarm water.  Then I gently heaped 12 small handfuls of plaster powder into the bowl, until it formed a small island.  I waited two minutes for the powder to absorb the water.  Then I stuck my hand into the bowl and agitated the mixture for at least five minutes, until it felt silky and thick, like single cream. 
- Then I poured the plaster mixture into the clay mould and gave the wooden board a gentle knock to nudge the plaster into all the corners and create an even surface.  I left it to set for at least 15 minutes.
- When it was ready, I peeled away the clay mould: the plaster felt warm and damp.  I gave it a rinse under the cold tap and filed down the sharp edges.
- The relief looked like a cluster of skyscrapers.

I didn't have time to complete the next style of mould, but I watched the teacher demonstrate.

- He drew a line around the middle of a lemon. 
- He moulded coils of clay around the bottom of the lemon, up to the line he'd drawn.  When the lemon was nestling in a thick lump of clay, he used a needle to cut the clay into a neat oval. 
- He smeared the lemon with Vaseline, to make it easier to remove from the plaster cast later.
- He rolled out a long, thin strip to make a wall; he curved it around the oval and sealed it tightly.
- He mixed up some plaster and poured it into the mould. 
- When it was dry, he had created a relief of half a lemon.
- If he'd used an object with a dent, like an apple, it might have formed an 'undercut', where the clay will lock itself into the plaster mould and will be impossible to remove.  To prevent this, he could file away the knobble using a surform grater.

Health and Safety Points
- Don't inhale the powder, as it's an irritant. 
- If you leave your hands in the plaster for too long, it may get trapped in there, and only a surgeon in A&E will be able to get you out.  When the chemical reaction begins, the plaster can get very hot, which can leave you with a very nasty burn.
- Be careful of spills.  Someone spilled a lot of plaster on the floor and didn't announce it to the whole class, or mark the spill with a hazard triangle.  I slipped and gave my thigh a horrible bump.
- Washing up the plaster bowls in the sink can block the drains and make them stink.  Let the plaster bowls dry, then scrape off as much as you can into the bin.  It flakes off easily because the bowls are rubber and you just give them a squeeze.

Artists to research: Antony Gormley (plaster casts), Nicola Hicks (plaster and straw sculptures).

In Life Drawing, we experimented with tone.

- Warm-up exercises: two minute poses, continuous motion.
- Using white pastel on black paper, I tried to draw the figure without drawing lines, just putting chalky white highlights where the model was lit.
- Using black pastel and charcoal on coloured paper (dark pink), I tried to draw the figure by concentrating on the dark shadows.  I also used a contrasting colour (green) to shade in the mid-tones and 'grey' areas.

(Pictures might follow, although I was very tired and I think everything I did was far too rubbish to put online!)