by Leonie Andrews

Toulouse-Lautrec

Finally got to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia today. Somewhat of a celebration of my rapidly recovering knee which allowed me to get around the show without falling over.

A very impressive show. I particularly enjoyed seeing his oil paintings on cardboard where he allowed so much of the substrate to show through. His draftmanship was evident in his ability to depict his subject with apparently effortless strokes, with no need to work the whole surface. Here is a small example from his work Woman curling her hair of 1891.

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The oil was thinned with turpentine to promote rapid absorption into the cardboard. When i first saw these works I thought they were pastels. I presume that, amongst other things, this technique made it very easy for him to carry his work around, particularly when he was painting in the brothels.

Of equal interest to me were his smaller lithographs using crayon, where again fine and delicate lines were all he needed to convey the subject.

The exhibition runs until 2 April 2013.

by Leonie Andrews

Drawings 29 to 31 January

It’s the time of the year when I generally resolve to draw every day. Not difficult really. I wonder how many days I will manage this year?

Here are three in a row.

29 January – my friend has loaned me her copy of Judy Cassab’s Diaries to read. At one point Cassab is asked does she always draw from the centre of the page? Yes. The other artist suggests ahe draw from one side of the page as an alternative, to loosen up her work. So I try drawing my image from the right hand side – next time I might also put my pen on the right side of the page before I start.

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30 January – the tapestry frame where I’m working on an exhibition piece. The weird red colour on the page is an artefact of the scanning which I couldn’t get rid of.

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31 January – my cat, who likes to crawl under pillows to sleep, a privilege of old age.

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