Tag: da Vinci

Research & Reflection1 Comment

Atelier drawings – portrait 3, da Vinci

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Before: ending on a high here! The portrait to copy is Leonardo da Vinci’s Study of a Young Woman (1490) and appropriately but probably coincidentally, it is positioned on the right of the book so that the page where the copy is to be made is on the left. This means I can actually see the image I am working with instead of obscuring it with my drawing arm. The arrangement would not have been lost on da Vinci, a reputed left hander. After: so, that went well! There’s a reason da Vinci is a Master; he makes the complicated … Continue reading Atelier drawings – portrait 3, da Vinci

Coursework, Research & Reflection3 Comments

Fibonacci’s spiral and the Golden Ratio

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I have never quite ‘got’ Fibonacci because I have never needed to but a recent image brought it right into focus. In the absence of real world moving models to draw, I’ve been using the live stream from NASA’s JPL laboratory where they’re building the 2020 Mars lander, and while everyone is dressed in white one piece coveralls, boots, hoods, and masks, they move, they gesture, they bend and stretch, climb and curl up into small spaces. Two days ago they formed a tableau that reminded me of a piece of classic art but I couldn’t recall what it was. … Continue reading Fibonacci’s spiral and the Golden Ratio

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Figure, form, and light: Rego, Vermeer, Lautrec, Schiele, da Vinci

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Not yet a research point but as I came across it via the drawing module, I’m including some of the material here. Toulouse Lautrec – before the simplified nature of his posters (necessitated, I understand, by the printing process), his drawings were quite loose and almost cartoonish. There was a great deal of movement and energy, often with large numbers of characters and a focal individual. ‘La Danse au Moulin Rouge’ looks to me like a picture of spontaneous uninhibited fun. Egon Schiele – I envy the economy of line, and suggestion of form, but I am less keen on … Continue reading Figure, form, and light: Rego, Vermeer, Lautrec, Schiele, da Vinci

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Perspective – a re-blog from The Conversation

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I was looking for something handy to say on perspective; preferably something that might also illuminate my approach to a technique that foxes me, visually, every time I try to complete a perspective-directed exercise; then this article rolled up right on cue. The Conversation permits re-blogging on condition that the article is not edited, so here’s the whole piece. Comments when I’ve read it properly, but here for reference too. Four ways in which Leonardo da Vinci was ahead of his time Leonardo da Vinci had a seemingly inexhaustible imagination for innovation. Hywel Jones, Sheffield Hallam University; Alessandro Soranzo, Sheffield … Continue reading Perspective – a re-blog from The Conversation