Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Coffee and Dancing at the Mall


My friend Anni and I went to Rosebank Mall on our Women's Day, the 9th August (sheesh, I'm behind on posting!) We had coffee at the Mugg & Bean and started sketching the surrounding customers and waiters. We then wandered upstairs and from the balcony (under the optometrists sign in the above sketch) we sketched from the higher angle. The staff working below looked very suspiciously up at us until I showed them my sketch in progress, then it was smiles and thumbs up to go ahead. I messed this one up a bit using markers to colour it - should have used watercolour later as in the top sketch, or left it as a line drawing like the girl reading

 Nearby was a dance studio where a promotional make-up session was in progress. We were invited in and I started an unsuccessful sketch of ladies being transformed when a dance class began and I moved across the room to try and catch the - luckily quite slow - moves of the tango. The girl was teaching the guy, lots of concentration, they seemed to not notice me on the sidelines at all! I did only two of these sketches per page, but I put them together here as a sequence.

14 comments:

Robyn Sinclair said...

Wow, Cathy what an amazingly creative and productive day. Wonderful drawings. My favourite is the high angle of the ladies making coffee. Fantastic action sketches of the dancers. Congratulations, fabulous post.

Sadami said...

Dear Cathy,
Really wonderful!!! You're sucessfully sending the mood of people, time and places. Moreover, movement! I love it.
Cheers, Sadami

Sharon Whitley said...

they're all great but really love the one from above looking down on the ladies working - super composition.

vivien said...

fantastic sketches! and the way you put the sequence together is beautiful

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Robyn, Sadami, Sharon and Vivien - I've been wanting to do that high angle one for ages, and I think will go back for more dancing if they let me, that was fun!

Unknown said...

How fabulous - I especially like the tango sequence

Anonymous said...

Wonderful sketches. I love the dancers. You've gotten their moves down quite well. No roses in one's teeth?

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Sue and Carol - without the rose between the teeth, I didn't realise it was the tango till Anni told me later on...:-)

Sydney said...

we are doing quick sketches at college and omg i find it SO hard to catch movements of passer bys! any tips?

Cathy Gatland said...

Hi Sydney - you can't really catch the entire person as they pass by - it's usually a combination of catching the general shape, individual limbs and bits of clothing etc, as they come towards you, pass and carry on by... hard to explain and it takes lots of practice, figure drawing and some working out in theory as well so that you have a memory bank of body positions to draw from when the person has long gone. I might try and do a post about it, but it IS hard!
Another thing I sometimes do is watch (for eg)sports on TV and pause the picture in mid-gesture to see what the body does and sketch it. Also, exaggerate - make stretching parts really stretch, crunched up bits really crunch and don't get too fussy with details like hands and feet...

Eleanor said...

What wonderful sketches!

Midori Yoshino said...

Hi Cathy,

I'm trying a cafe. But all are halfway. I never completed. As long as I see your works. It seems so easy. I've realized there is nothing to easy things. Sketching and sketching and sketing.I love your works.Thank you for sharing.

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Eleanor and Hani Hani - sometimes a half-finished sketch can look great too, so don't be too hard on yourself!

husna yusuf nawawi said...

Hi Ms.Gatland, ... my name is Husna from Indonesia. What a wonderful sketches ... hopefully i can learn more from you, ... :)