Let Marcelo explain
On gesture drawing
Gesture drawing implies that the object of observation is not stationary and that the lines, as products of the movement of the hand, are able to convey the sense, rhythms, speed, feeling and gestalt (configuration) of the actions of the moving object. The aim in gesture drawing is to depict what the object is doing.
If we think of objects, any object, as resisting the forces of gravity, there are no immobile objects in the world. Even a stone is somehow occupied in keeping its shape, resisting, standing against the forces of the elements and against the pull of gravity of the earth, as well as the gravity of every other object and their fields of force. What we see in the world is the product of a conflict of forces, balance is a sum of efforts. Balance in life as in art is activity, not passivity.
In gesture drawing the physical act of marking the surface of the paper is the clue to the product. The drawing will reflect or express at the same time the qualities of movements of the subject and of the object. Both the physical involvement of the artist with the medium by means of the artist's own bodily actions (including hand, arm and by extension the whole body, physical posture, muscular tone, energy, speed, ect.), the artist's gestures, and the configurations of the object in space, the object's actions and what those actions communicate, that is, the understanding of the object's form and dynamics also as gesture, that is, as expressive form.
Posted by Marcelo Guimaraes Lima at 3:35 AM
What we are doing is taking a little training from Jeffrey Watts dvd "Gesture Portraits".... he wants us to paint a portrait in 30 minutes... use a timer and QUIT when the bell rings. Being a beginner like I am , I upped the time to 60 minutes...... for me, it seems ... at least until I get the hang of it... a one hour portrait is really cookin' for us in this studio :-)...... After I get some mileage under the belt maybe they will improve in color, quality, likeness and speed. The likeness is not the critical point at this stage.... we are working on freedom of expression, looseness and technique.... altho this one came out fairly close (maybe John doesn't think so). Watts reccomends a live model which I do not have so I am going to be painting from my foto archives.
"Representation" in painting is being more exact and take more time to finish the details. We are not working on this with gesture painting.
Sooooooo.... here is my first attempt. I will try to do a couple more today.
Oil on canvas pad 9x11
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