Bargue #3 - Done and Done!

The Belvedere Torso

Bargue #3- complete

~18 x 14"

graphite on Stonehenge paper

© Nicki Ault, 2014

After months of part-time work equaling hours and hours and HOURS of drawing time, my third and final "Bargue" is complete. I am feeling pretty dang good after putting the final touches on this baby at yesterday's class. I am officially moving on to the next stage of the drawing program at Atelier 2302 which is based on the Charles Bargue Drawing Course. Next I will be drawing from a cast- a real life, three dimensional object instead of a copy of a plate from a book.

Although each of my first two Bargues represented a milestone of sorts, this third Bargue feels rather monumental by comparison. The completed Belvedere Torso feels like it was all me... and it was. I started from zero, just me and the plate I had to enlarge and copy. No pre-done construct, no shadow shapes already worked out into light and dark, no work done for me in any way as was the case with the other two. Not only did I have to measure and transfer this image accurately, I had to enlarge it! Hello concept of comparative measure, nice to meet you! I found a section on the plate that was to be my unit of measure, decided how much to increase it by (about 30%) and then transferred that new unit onto my paper in the right location. From that point on all measurements were compared to those units and transferred accordingly as I built the construct of the drawing. Right now I can't believe I did it from start to finish, but here it is! Fully rendered and fine tuned. DONE!

Bargue # 3 - The Belvedere Torso

  Bargue #3

graphite on Stonehenge paper

© Nicki Ault, 2014

My new motto: "Keep Calm and Bargue On".

I had a great day at Atelier 2302 yesterday. The real deal is underway on the Stonehenge paper. This is the point where, with every hour spent, the fear of something bad happening increases exponentially. I now have the light and dark shapes separated and a nice, even, homogenous tone in the shadow shapes. I really enjoy the next stage which will be to describe and refine the shadow shape and big-form model in the light shapes. At first I felt really nervous about that six-pack, but then I decided that if I pulled off the beard in Bargue #2, then I can surely do this.

I found this video on YouTube- footage of the Belvedere Torso in the Vatican Museum. It's not the greatest quality, however it is interesting to see the sculpture to scale and as a three dimensional object. I now understand the markings a bit better in my drawing (i.e. the hole on his right thigh). To learn more about this sculpture go to this link: The Belvedere Torso.

In other news, I have been to the studio a little bit and it is beginning to feel good again. I am tackling a really big painting right out of the gates, so all going well I will have that to show you soon. It is 30 x 60" and has some challenging subject matter in it.

Have a great weekend!

A Day of Barguing

Bargue #3 continued

graphite on bond paper

Last Thursday was a full day of Barguing (a new verb?). I made some changes for the better to my drawing and now the chest and the hunch/curve of the back are more accurate. I know I will need to make more adjustments even after it is transferred but I wanted it to be in the best shape possible going forward from here. So with that handled I began preparing to transfer by flipping the drawing over and covering all of my lines on the backside of the paper with graphite (I used a light-box to see the lines more clearly). 

I then centered the drawing over the Stonehenge paper and securely taped it at the top edge so that when I transferred the lines I could flip back and forth to make sure it was going well, but not worry about shifting the image. As I traced over the lines of my drawing I had to be careful not to press too hard so as to score the paper, but press hard enough to actually transfer some graphite onto the Stonehenge. In the above photo you can see my drawing flipped back showing the lines covered in graphite and you can see, very faintly, the transferred image on the Stonehenge paper. The plate I am copying of the Belvedere torso is on the left. Voila!