Nude Study...
But only five minutes to figure it out...
Time, where does it go? I'd planned a different theme for tonight... photographed the artwork because it was A1 (as in Din paper size, not excellence) and far too large to reproduce from six joined scans which would have probably shown gaps and overlaps.
So... Plan B... still had to take a photograph because the original was too large, but from firing the shutter of the 5 x 4 Lotus, loading the roll of Ilford Delta 100 (I was using a roll-film back on the view camera) into the dev tank... 10 minutes at 24 degrees in Rodinal at 1:50... and 40 minutes after I photographed the artwork I'm holding a dry film ready for the scanner.
Nothing special to adjust on the CanoScan 9900F - Delta 100 monochrome negative film scans nicely - except for the film holders which are crap... if a company such as Canon can make precision professional cameras and lenses, ink-jet printers with vanishingly thin nozzles which pass atomised droplets of predetermined colour, number and position to incredible accuracy... and manufacture a host of other consumer and business products by the million... why do they supply film carriers which are only fit for dogs to chew?
However, the point of tonight's weblog is not to review or rant about an otherwise super scanner but to try to inspire y'all to complete a sketch, drawing, painting - something akin to artwork - in just five minutes. I had to cheat here... using only black poster paint and two sable brushes - a 1 inch flat and #10 round - and a 22 x 30 inch sheet of cartridge paper... the nude study bares only the slightest resemblance to the lady posing... but it was an attempt at a difficult exercise.
I say I had to cheat because I tried... oh I tried... but my efforts today were pitiful. So I reverted to the art college portfolio and took out an example from 40 years ago of what I was trying to do today. I can say that the example shown also bares only the slightest resemblance to the lady posing... but at least it bore a likeness... today's efforts are in the waste bin. Shame on me for not having the cohones to show 'em.
Deflated yet challenged, I had another look at Dr. Omed's "Chaos Drawings" and feel re-inspired by the results of his deft touch with the simplest of application and materials. When you think about it... it's not necessary to add multiple choices of materials to your palette to start with? Beautiful tribal art made centuries ago by scratching stone on stone still exists... so you don't need to think, "I've got to get every item assembled first" before you start.
Which reminds me of the latest audio blog from the mouth of LensWork editor Brooks Jenson in which he talks about "The Art Kit"... it's very droll... it runs two minutes twelve... you surely have the time to listen... then grab a brush, one paint colour, a piece of paper and spend five minutes trying to do as I did. It's the same with anything in life... the more you practice.
10:32:11 PM 
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