Artist Demonstration: Pina Bartolo

Ready, Set, Go…..

By Margaret Vickers

Life drawing of the human figure can be very challenging. Add a time constraint and immediate focus is essential. When artist and teacher, Pina Bartolo presented her life drawing demonstration to the June meeting (2024) of the Lane Cove Art Society she made this skill look very simple. She is passionate about life drawing and was keen to share her skills and knowledge to the Lane Cove Art society. She did mention that other areas of art were also attractive to her such as still life, en plein air sketching and portraiture.

For this presentation Pina was well prepared and proceeded to demonstrate a variety of approaches one can use to capture the nuanced form of the naked human figure. Willow charcoal was the preferred tool to use. When short poses are undertaken by life drawing models the aim is to quickly capture the essence of the subject. “You are wanting to get that initial impression down quickly,”remarked Pina “noting the angles and contours of the body and how things are connected.” The charcoal can be used to either block in form or produce a stick figure to use as an anchor sketch for subsequent layers. Pina used the side of the charcoal to block in the form. Another technique employed was filling a piece of material with leftover bits of charcoal and dragging this over the paper. Pina also touched on using a continuous line to rough in the sketch. As more lines are added, form starts to appear.

Pina worked from photos of life drawing models. In the latter part of her demonstration she introduced brown paper and coloured pastels. She blocked in the main shapes of the figure and then layers of pastel were added to build up or push back tone. Core shadows were made darker. Highlights were made with white pastel. Where Pina used bold saturated colour, form was exaggerated. Conversely, where white was overlaid on colour, form receded. “Form can also be accentuated by emphasizing the negative space,” Pina said.

In her final life drawing demonstration Pina used three colours on black paper. She started by using a mid tone. Shadows appeared with her use of charcoal. White pastel again provided the highlights in the final drawing. Tonal qualities can also be introduced using collage or even painting areas of the drawing.

Using different approaches throughout the presentation, Pina illustrated her versatility and passion for life drawing. Her inclusive approach to making art encourages the artist within to emerge. Her classes at The Tramshed at Narrabeen and the North Sydney Community centre are understandably well attended. Thankyou Pina for an informative life drawing presentation. Why not do some life drawing using yourself as a model? Just a thought offered by a member after the meeting.