jbartonfineartist

The Geelong Art Society Inc.[ Shearers Arms Gallery ,202 Aberdeen St ., Geelong West 3218 ],  hosted  a Life Drawing afternoon  for  17  Designers  from  the” Cotton On” clothing  company  ( 800 shops world wide )…on Friday afternoon  july 15th 2011.

I led the group with the theme  ” Four Seasons”.. with Zenta  modelling for the 4 hour event…Jacinta Leitch and Michele Karakasch  organised and made  food and  Poured wine  for the  30 minute break.. The group was moved through  a series of  1,5, 15 ,  and 30 minute  poses   using Graphite  Block on white  150 gsm  cartridge paper  to create their  images. Bill Canty’s” Elysian Peace “added  harmony to our experience.  After the break,  part  2 of the programme was changed on the suggestion of Nick (head of the design team ) , to have a ” progressive  life  drawing “, …where  we each spent a short time , perhaps a minute on our drawing, before progressing to the next persons easle to continue their drawing. I made the time 3 minutes, but in retrospect 1 minute would have  made for better drawing…This did not  take away the fun we all had…as we made our way around the room  to the more lively sounds  of tracks from Light House….

What delightful young people to be amongst  on this tranquil afternoon.

Life Drawing can be a very meditative  and relaxing  ……

…….focus, concentration, judging distances ,shapes , spaces….

These boards display photocopies  of   life drawings  of  Zenta   dating back to 2001 ,

(all drawings [ 5 ] from the first  session are on the top of this display board, shown in order).

This  arrangement of 5 and 10 minute drawings  reveals a variety of technique, moods

and approaches  to depicting the human form  (all of Zenta 2001 -2011 ).

With this  drawing , the  “basic blocking in”    with graphite on edge  was most important.

Achieving the desired proportions of the figure , be they true to life or exaggerated for the effect , gives me a good foundation.

Whaaallaaaa!!!!………. { Hmmn those hands…. I want to render them a little more }

These little boxes   contain  on the  left  32 photos of paintings I displayed at my recent

43 year retrospective ” Abstracts and Still Lifes ” ( a gift to Zoe Snyder  , curator of Karingallery)

and on the right …a Kart of 40 Life drawings (photo size)  with examples below.

John Barton has been  drawing and painting for over 55 years .A native  of the Tweed Coast ( North  N.S.W., Australia),John’s career in architecture ,teaching and creating fine art  has largely  been carried out in the Geelong environs (city in the state of Victoria), while living with his family , all of whom have exhibited artwork locally.

John’s architecture  exudes a coastal contemporary  ambience , often incorporating adobe  (mud brick and rammed earth) walling. Houses he has designed  may be found in Western Australia, New south Wales, Queensland, Tasmania  and  Victoria..

Interpreting the masters : Cezanne, Rembrandt, Van Gogh ,Vermeer and others  from the tender age  of 10 , John learned  the fundamentals  and subtleties  of working in oils (oil paint on canvas , hard board and other surfaces ).

In recent years ( from 1997 on…)John has returned  to former passion … ”  Life  Drawing” ….His graphite  (lead pencil) images are largely  formed  from  6B graphite block,  pencil  and  fine clutch pencil on papers of  varying grades, weights and textures.

His  oil and acrylic paintings  range from  portraiture and domestic scenes  to town, sea and landscapes,depicted ina sometimes realistic , always expressive ,and occasionally in an abstract manner.

John’s drawings and paintings are in public and private collections .

” Abstracts and Still Lifes”  John’s first  solo exhibition  of acrylic and oil paintings, a  43  year  retrospective   was  recently

opened  on 6th May and close 27th May.2011….Movie footage and stills from this show  and a more recent exhibition may  be viewed on this website……Please enjoy,……John Barton.