Part 4 Project 5 Exercise 1 The Moving Figure

I completed this section out of sequence as I was waiting for the opportunity to draw figures from life.

For this exercise, my husband drew my attention to a group of lawn service men who were working across the road with lawnmowers and weed-eaters. I surreptitiously tried to draw their movements. What I found interesting was the fact that they tended to walk with an upright posture to counteract the weight of the weed-eater. From my vantage point, it was hard to get a full view of the feet which were clad in boots. It was quite interesting to see how stationary and inactive the supervisor was compared to his workers. I did not get a full view of him as he was faced directly towards me and I did not want him to realize that I was drawing of him.

Fig. 1. Garden Service workers

Later in the afternoon, I drew my husband firstly fixing a braai grill (barbecue or barbie grill) and then actually grilling the meat. My initial page has sketches of him working with a set of pliers to wire up the wholes in the grill. I chose not to draw the grill, as I was focusing on his movements.By the final sketch (the one in blue),  (Fig. 2) I felt I was starting to get a feel for his general pose. It was amazing how active he was during this whole process. It was fascinating then to see how active he was while grilling. I always thought that grilling meat was a static experience, but he was in constant flux of motion. I eventually found that there were certain poses to which he would return. So I started beginning each of these poses and then coming back to them when he returned to that same pose once again. What I found particularly interesting was the way in which he held his hands. Quite often, his left hand would be splayed in an awkward looking position. You can see this in the red sketches. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Mending the grill

In my final page of sketches, I incorporated the grill. The sketch on the left was a hurried sketch which is not in proportion to the grill. I think I was able to get a feel of the baggy sweatshirt and trousers my husband was wearing.

Fig. 4 Grilling with the "braai" grill