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Figure

after El Greco’s “Penitent Magdalene”

2012/04/12
Drawings, Figure, Portraits
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My Portrait With a Hat class at Newport Art Museum started up again this week, and we worked after Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco. I chose his “Penitent Magdalene” as our subject. I set the stage and provided wardrobe, and the model brought her resemblance to El Greco’s Magdalene as well. Compare the two Marys in this image.

K as El Greco's "Penitent Magdalene" with the original

K posing and "Penitent Magdalene" by El Greco

It is remarkable how certain passages in the original seem distorted or extended when seen next to a living model. The length of fingers, arms and neck are noticeably long, the eyes large, and that forearm looks extra meaty. The painting takes its advantage from El Greco’s distortions. The fluid composition, expressive hands and the arc of Mary’s head, crucifix and the momento mori skull reflected with her lower arm, all knit together in a tour de force of painting. Drawing either a direct copy or a posed facsimile created with a model illuminates the master’s work in new ways.

Below is my drawing of the pose.

K as Penitent Magdalene, drawing, 2012

"K as Penitent Magdalene", charcoal, 2012

Newport Art Museum – facebook

2012/03/28
Figure, Landscapes, Paintings
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For those who social media, Newport Art Museum can be followed and liked and all sorts of fun esocial stuff on facebook. (No little “f” logo here!)  “Faculty Focus”, my show with Lisa May is there, as is art class info, all the exhibitions, news and events at the museum. If you would rather visit in person, great! See the show, on view until May 6, 2012.

Faculty Focus image, Dickison / May

"Faculty Focus: Peter Dickison and Lisa May" at Newport Art Museum

 

Study for The Source II

2012/03/22
Drawings, Figure, Landscapes
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Study for The Source II, charcoal drawing, Peter Dickison.

"Study for The Source II" charcoal, 29x20 cm, 2012.

The painting of this title is currently part of my two person exhibition at Newport Art Museum, “Faculty Focus: Peter Dickison and Lisa May.” It was recently completed, though actually begun more than a year  earlier. In understanding the connection of the two figures and reworking the left one completely to that end, I resorted to a frequent exercise of mine in the studio: drawing a copy of the painting. It clarifies the picture for me, and gives me freedom to quickly remake aspects of it.

Here, the figure to the left has dipped a vessel of water from the source and offers it to the other; a woman offers a drink from the source to the man. The water can be seen as analogous to sustenance, love, life, the eternal flow of humanity through the world (nature). Now, in religious contexts, the symbolic cleansing of water is not usually given from the hand of a woman, so my setting can be seen as unorthodox in that sense.

I didn’t set out to be so controversial, however. I was thinking more of companions looking out for one another in Nature. And this study uncovered the relationship I was looking for in the painting. Look for it in the show at Newport Art Museum, in Newport, RI. Through May 6, 2012.

Venus and Adonis twice

2011/03/27
Drawings, Figure
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I am including two versions of Adonis leaving his lover’s side to go hunting. The meaning is general in these two studies; the youth longs for thrill and danger and for it will leave the goddess who loves him.

I have gone at the subject differently.  The first drawing has the couple engaged in conversation and the second portrays the moment when conversation has ended, and Venus lays down dejected while Adonis takes off. The latter contains action in its composition, and the former more of an internal drama. I am partial to the first Venus standing in a pool for its composition.

Venus and Adonis charcoal drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

Venus and Adonis, charcoal, 2010

and another version:

Venus and Adonis charcoal drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2011

Venus and Adonis, charcoal, 2011

Seated Nude Studies

2010/11/21
Drawings, Figure
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The following two studies in charcoal were done on a Saturday morning recently. These are excellent examples of how a sketching session with model, while producing quickly done studies, can provide a fresh injection of ideas into larger, more deliberate studio paintings. The poses, with head tilts, folding legs or feet and turnings of torso can be used in a larger, more ambitious work. The attitude of the figure can suggest new narrative or work its way into an existing narrative in progress in the studio.
As for these, it is still gelling for me, but the first study is very likely to reappear soon in a painting.

Seated figure, charcoal drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

Seated Figure on Bench, 2010

Seated Nude on Ground, charcoal drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

Seated Nude on Ground, 2010

Study for the Source

2010/07/04
Drawings, Figure, Landscapes
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This drawing is small and was conceived originally as a sort of Arcadian Shepherds idea, then thought of as potential for Orpheus and Eurydice. I have painted two canvases after this theme, done on a vertical format, titled “The Source.” The source of water is literally the source of life, and from the eternal spring comes love, renewal, life and hope.

Arcadian Shepherds, charcoal drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

Arcadian Shapherds, charcoal, 2010.

Couple

2010/04/23
Drawings, Figure, Landscapes
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Couple by a Rock Ledge

Couple by a Rock Ledge, charcoal by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

This is an idea that I worked up in a quick sketch recently, and it has stuck with me. This 18×24 inch drawing works it out more, and on a vertical. The first sketch was a horizontal. It suggests a number of things to me including Venus and Adonis. But it is perhaps any couple in love, seeking the quiet sanctuary of a wooded place beneath a ledge outcropping. There may be a hint of apprehension in the eyes of the pair. Could it be Orpheus and Eurydice? Is there a serpent on the right that she is just at this moment noticing? The drawing is still quite open to different conclusions.

Woman and Her Dog

2010/03/23
Drawings, Figure, Portraits
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Woman and Chihuahua, charcoal by Peter Dickison, copyright 2010.

Woman and Her Chihuahua, charcoal, 2010

In Portrait with a Hat tonight we had a model who posed with her pet Chihuahua named Zootsie. The model wore a fox stole around her neck- no hat- and the dog had a fur stole as well. I did not have my paint box but one of the students said I should be working on this, too. So I rummaged up paper and charcoal and did this 18×24 sketch.

edit: to identify the model as Trish, who is a regular source of inspiration for our class.

The Narrative of Perseus

2010/03/10
Drawings, Figure
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Perseus drawing by Peter Dickison, copyright 2009.

Perseus, graphite, 2009

Perseus is shown in a sketch with his winged sandals, curved sword, helmet and shield, as he prepares to slay the sea creature Ceto, thereby rescuing Andromeda from her terrifying plight. I recently executed a small painting of the subject, which has been exhibited at my gallery.

Two more versions of Europa and the Bull- 2/2

2010/03/10
Drawings, Figure, Landscapes
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Abduction of Europa, charcoal by Peter Dickison, copyright 2009.

Abduction of Europa, charcoal, 2009.

This is the second version mentioned below of Europa and the Bull. Here is a more dramatic version; Europa is taken against her will. She looks back to land where her companions are and half waves her free arm for help. A distant boat sails away, too far in the distance to see her plight.

The subject has an erotic charge, the horns of the bull representing both a mortal danger to her and symbolic of the threat to her chastity. Whether this version or the previous is more suggestive is perhaps a matter of opinion. Either way, Europa is on the crest both of the waters Zeus is stealing her across and of a different destiny than the one she knew a moment ago.