DRAWINGS & PAINTINGS: December Edition

Reece Bell
12 minutes ago
3 min read

A Note From Harry - End-of-Year Reflections

Christmas means a lot as far as family is concerned, but it doesn’t for work. I have the day off, but I usually work on Boxing Day morning. I’m lucky, the news around the world is so bloody awful but I can forget about it, concentrating on doing what I love. Maybe I sound a bit smug about that, but it is sincerely felt. I do enjoy making Christmas cards, here’s the image for this year’s;

but the printing was so bad (new print firm) I nearly didn’t send them out. This is what it looked like;

Actually, not quite as bad as that but I’m sending them out anyway.

Something which made me feel bad was seeing the work of the Turner prize winner. It has some lively decorative merit but no reflective or expressive characteristics that I could see, having all the spirit and insight of a Damien Hirst dot painting. We have come to expect this from a Turner prizewinner, each year’s result the work of international curators bent on expanding their investment-driven partnership with major commercial galleries.

But this year is different. A major part of the promotion are the disabilities suffered by the woman who is awarded the prize.

I have always believed in the traditional view of the arts as being separate from the circumstances of individual artists, amusing or uncomfortable though they may be and that the matters dealt with in art are of cultural and universal value. This time, however, it seems that much of the merit in the work are the difficulties overcome in its making, despite the fact she has help and support from others.

This promotion is part of a modern trend towards celebrity, worthiness and monetary value being indicators of artistic quality. That trend is being supported by state-funded institutions to the exclusion of the more traditional values of skill, reflection and insight into human concerns.

That’s what makes me feel bad.

What I am working on this month

I’ve mostly been drawing this month. A lot from life models, which gets rather expensive, and some from photos which I don’t enjoy as much because I have to struggle to not slavishly copy the image, but they are very useful as references for paintings. There is a lot more inventiveness working from life. Also, I’ve been using dry media more, that is Conte crayon or charcoal partly because lately I’m more comfortable if I work bigger and partly because there is less temptation (i.e. its harder) to get into detail. Another thing I’ve been enjoying is making five minute quick sketches. I used to do a lot outside but haven’t lately so it is good to do it again.

From Life;

Quick Sketches;

From Photos;

Studies for Possible Paintings;

A Perfect Gift This Christmas - Drawings

Drawings remains a central part of my practice, and this book brings together work from across my career - early sketches, anatomical studies, still lifes, preparatory drawings and pages from my sketchbooks, many appearing in print for the first time.

Alongside the images is an introductory essay exploring the theory and value of drawing today, offering insight into how I think and work.

Order Your Copy

Studio Insight

I’ve been drawing a lot using friends as models lately, and it’s sobering to see how it amends what you thought about their appearance. Not their character or personality, but what they look like. Because you know them so well, you assume you are familiar with their facial characteristics, until you spend time looking at them as an object, or as if you didn't know them. Everything from roundness of head, curve on nose, thickness of brows, set of mouth, fullness of lips and many more details seem as if you’ve never seen them before.

Here are some;

We are so psychologically bound to recognising faces that we get them mixed up with assessments of character. There used to be whole treatises and academic studies on what one could glean about a person’s character from facial characteristics, with the emphasis often on the criminal aspects. Regarded today as nonsense, I’m sure there is a lingering sense that there is something to it.

Drawings Available for Purchase

We have released a small selection of drawings - studies, sketches and works on paper - ideal for collectors and those who enjoy seeing the earliest stages of an idea.

Purchase Here

Looking Ahead to the New Year

I don’t have any major plans for next year. I’m in the luxurious position of not having to cope with a schedule so I can follow my interests and put things aside when I want. Which makes the new year a bit of an adventure. I hope yours is too and thank you for your interest and support.