Roundism - 30-12-22

Last One This Year

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Roundism – 30-12-22’ is the last one of this year. After Neo Deco – 25-12-22 I wanted to end this year in the style that brought me success the last decade. One could also argue that I just don’t know where this particular style is heading for anyway. Surely I have this other thing, called ‘Neo Deco’ but I am not sure yet where this is going. Recently I wrote about my uncertainties with regard of serving something old as a new style. That is how it feels like, sort of. Maybe it’s just that I am trying to forge something out of dusty air of a bygone era. It’s definitely a topic I want to delve much deeper into in 2023. For now I named all things round ‘roundism’ and cubistically straight things ‘neo deco’. A pretty daft distinction perhaps. What do you think?

Golden Ratio

The motif for this actual work was derived from a reference picture taken by Walter Bird. The last one I used one of his photos for was Art Deco Nude – 23-08-22. Even though the style of photographing is typically art deco I think his work stands out compared to many others. Not only did he use heavy doses of light and dark but also cropped nudes within the frame nicely. The result is a perfect bodyscape image. Due to the striking roundness of the breasts and tilted body position I thought drawing roundish shapes were almost unavoidable. I spotted some nice curves I extrapolated outside the female form. The ones besides her hip culminated into the golden ratio curves. A suitable ending for this year. The ending and the beginning of something entwined, as it should be. So is my search for the eternal and essential in the temporary.

Graphite pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil 14B) drawing Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers