I have been reading and drawing some of the figures from Chartres. I often keep redrawing the same figure or shape because with each new drawing something changes even if just a little- the mood of the day or the slip of the pencil. So this is one of the queens from the royal portal at Chartres... I had printed her onto background fabric with a gocco ( same as thermofax screen), but there were a few problems with the plastic actually lifting off the silk.
I keep redrawing this figure because I am trying to get the face right. The photo I took at Chartres is from below so it makes her chin look very large and weird and the resulting shadow is also strange. Then yesterday whilst poring over Emile Male's "The Gothic Image"- and it is dense reading and I must admit to enjoying having the footnotes at the bottom of the page rather than at the end of the chapter or at the end of the book, and it has lead me in the direction of a few medieval treasures, it's easy to get sidetracked.....Anyway I needed a break and decide to paint this queen with transfer paints- and I am so glad I did. I had got a little stuck with how to take these figures further, but am brimming with ideas for them now. So here is the finished stitched piece- it's A3 size as it's a piece for Voyageart as well.
Shes is changing, she seems much more modern somehow.The original would have been coloured as the medieval sculptors did apply lots of colour to their sculptures.
4 comments:
Beautiful!
it looks lovely, but I think perhaps where you're going wrong with the face is by trying hard to make her fit a modern idea of beauty, which is quite different to the medeival.
What works for me is to identify the expression on a medieval face, and concentrate hard on that when I draw
It is true that medieval faces are very different to modern faces but what is interesting about the sculptures on the royal portal is that the faces are quite "modern" - they are quite unique in their own right.
Ooo, I like this modern lady! Beautiful colors. It's good to hear that you continue to resketch and let the image evolve. I'm too much in the mind set of getting it right first time around, often don't think to keep working at it.
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