Tag Archives: art

Monday Art: Almost Abstracts

art,

These paintings have been used extensively on this blog. They were created using powdered inks dusted over watercolour paper, and then spraying water over them.

The second painting also has flower stems added in with watercolour pens.

Almost Roses
Found Flowers
Splash
Ocean wave

Thursdays 2pm in Lockdown

art, Corona, poem, Poetry, , , ,

I grab my pencils, mostly old and blunt,
scramble for a sharpener, my sketchbook
then connect to Zoom
run hands through unruly hair,
so long now in lockdown,
clean my glasses with my clothes.

The class begins. This week it’s
Maxine from Greece, his lithe body
first reaching and arching upwards
back turned coyly to the camera
we have ten minutes only to capture
the length and proportion of limbs,
that pert bottom,
not that I notice it,
the way every knee has a front, a face
and it must be drawn right.
Use the light and shadows to
give heft and bulk, says our tutor in Germany,
embolden key lines to make your drawing stand out.

The pose changes, now he drapes himself across a chair
one leg stretching out to the lens
and I grimace at the challenge of foreshortening
making his leg look as if it is coming out of my page
I try to see the shapes, the curve of his torso here
a triangle of negative space there
how his knee is on the same level as his nose.

All too soon, Maxime bids his farewells as we clap
then we show our various efforts to each other.
After each class, I am always tired
drained with the effort of trying to
achieve a human body on my grubby page.

Copyright © 2021 Kim Whysall-Hammond

Statue of limitations

poem, Poetry, , ,

With eyes that cannot meet mine
you appear meek, yet she
who breathed life in you
was out for the kill
I am stuck
frigid as you
held by your
harsh metallic
lines and wrinkles
pegged down
suspended
stopped

Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond

This poem was in response to the artwork below. It was written for the Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge last December. The current Challenge can be found here.