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Untitled
2007, charcoal and paste, 20 x 16.
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This artist submitted three strong figure studies for critique, and I selected the best of the group to comment on. I would like to start out by commending the artist for practicing the discipline of drawing from life ... there is no substitute.
I have two suggestions that can make this good drawing even better. The first has to do with the technique used when working with chalk and charcoal. The draftsmanship in this drawing is very good, but when executing a drawing with a powerful gesture , I think a simple background or no background would be more effective than what this artist utilized here. Secondly, I would recommend this artist not rely on line so much. By that I mean let the tone describe the boundary of one form against another. Reserve the heavy line for emphasis, and the lines can then serve as calligraphy to guide the viewer's eye throughout the drawing.
About the Critic
Dawn Whitelaw has studied painting with Scott Christensen, Cedric Egeli, Jim Pollard, and Everett Raymond Kinstler. In 2002 she received the Award of Excellence and Best of Show in an international competition sponsored by the Portrait Society of America, and she has exhibited her portrait, landscape, and still life paintings in juried shows organized by the Cumberland Society of Painters, the American Academy of Women Artists, and the Phoenix Historical Museum.
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