Observation -Life drawing

Life Drawing 1

Today I participated in a life drawing session.  This is my second experience working with a live model and I found it extremely interesting. At first we were introduced to the basics of life drawing e.g. proportion, scale and line. Although I knew from previous experience that proportion and scale were fundamental to achieve an effective portrait, I had never considered line. Will - the art instructor  informed us that the marks we put down on the page reflect not only what we want to convey but our confidence in ourselves. Generally there are three types of marks people make when drawing.

Line 1 is the least common type of mark people make - I consider this mark as the "mapping mark" because in a sense you are carving out the shapes of the body. This line is different to line 3 as although it sketchy there is slightly more consideration going into the mark.  Line 2 is a harsh mark often used when we want to portray a sense of certainty onto the audience.  Having being told this, I began to consider how the life drawing aspect could be incorporated into my "observation postcards."    

Exploring Line through stitch 

 Having completed a set of life drawings in pencil I wondered how this could be translated into stitch. previously I  researched about Norwich's  manufacturing history I wanted to  integrate this idea of stitch and person. I believe there  is a strong connection between the garment and the wearer and in this image above it is evident that the person is the garment. The above images also show the different marks and there impact on the overall composition.  Whilst producing these stitched images I also thought about what I am trying to convey to my audience. I can honestly say, that the this woman in  image derived from my imagination,  however  imagination is almost always dependent on previous experiences.  Maybe this is another avenue of exploration? it seems that there is liminal space between  Imagination ---.> Observation ---> Remembered. Where does imagination begin and observation stop when do you stop observing and being to remember?