Two Drawings in Line - Art by Sarah Myers

Abundance with a Cornucopia, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

    Here are two drawings with classical inspiration; a figure with an overflowing cornucopia and an Athena with helmet and shield. While the minimal outlines describing them are a style we associate with modernism, it's also true that the ancient Greeks were masters of the very simple, very accurate line that brings so much life and energy to their vase-paintings, and I hope that some of that influence remains in my drawings - even though these quick sketches, made at least partly to express fugitive thoughts on even more transient social media, are very much results of the present era.

Athena, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

The Cranach Hat - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Contemporary Sculpture in terracotta

    She tilts her head gently to the side, counterbalancing the elaborate flare of her velvet hat. Around her neck cling rich Renaissance jewels; the top of her bodice is embroidered with a scrolling pattern of stylized leaves and stems; a few stray locks of hair escape from her ornate headgear, which is also beaded and jeweled. Her sidelong glance is thoughtful and bright but almost wistful.

     My most recent sculpture was inspired, as its name implies, by the paintings of a great sixteenth-century painter, Lucas Cranach the elder. His vital, energetic but opulent portrayals struck me as perfect source material for a portrait like this one, created in a vivid red-orange terracotta at about half life-scale.

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Close-up

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers
Detail 

The Cranach Hat, Sculpture by Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, detail
Sarah Myers

The Cranach Hat, Sarah Myers

Ladies with Birds, Two Drawings - Sarah Myers

Cherries, Sarah Myers
Minimal line-drawing in charcoal.

    Two drawings show a woman with a swallow and cherries, another lady with a dove and an orange. We might be tempted to think that the swallow was begging for fruit, but if you can see a speck in the air overhead you will understand he is actually looking to catch the little fly that is the winged thing in pursuit of the cherries. And the dove in the next picture is a friendly visitor flying into land, perhaps on the outstretched hand, perhaps on the shoulder. From my collection of line-drawings in charcoal.

Woman with Dove and Orange, Sarah Myers
Minimal line-drawing in charcoal.

Head of a Woman - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers

     Sometimes an artwork contains more than its creative or intellectual history - as in this sculpture, where a wholly unexpected event, an explosion in the kiln, left marks unintended in the original form. It still seems odd to think of so tranquil a personage flying apart while surrounded by white-hot coils three times the temperature of a baking-oven; but such was the case.
     As she now stands she is not only the outcome of creation and catastrophe but also some gentle remedying. Several days ago I placed the two largest pieces back together as best I could. Though some chips and ceramic splinters remain missing, as they had pulverized, she now appears much as she was first intended; a peaceful, heart-shaped face, the tilted head poised on a long, graceful neck. Half-classical, half modern; and now, with the fracture lines of her mishap - where no mending could conceal the warp produced by a fire of 1260 degrees celsius – perhaps a little post-modern as well.

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers
Front, close-up

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

Head of a Woman, detail.  Sarah Myers 

Head of a Woman, sculpture
Sarah Myers

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers

Bracelets - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Bracelets, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in pale terracotta

     She leans forward on the palms of her hands; elaborate bracelets encircle her wrists and her dress front is shaped like a great bow which is echoed by the ribbon perched atop her hair. But her gaze is full of thought, reflective, quiet, contrasting with the extravagance of her clothes and jewellery…

     I created this piece some years ago, using a pale pink terracotta that gives a life-like effect. The composition is a very stable triangle from all sides, with small, lively edges, such as the corners of the hair-bow, the flaring bodice, lines of the bracelets and the very strong direction of the gaze emerging from the three-sided structure to give the sculpture vitality and energy.

Woman with Bracelets, Sarah Myers
Detail of face

Bracelets, Sarah Myers
Sculpture

Woman with Jasmine Flowers - Art by Sarah Myers

Woman with Jasmine Flowers, Sarah Myers
Charcoal, conte, paper-cut and collage

    She looks out from the storm of perfumed jasmine flowers, blooms that blow down and across her and are caught in her stillness. Her face with its intense but motionless glance is reminiscent of ancient portraits from late Rome or from Fayum, but she and the fragile blossoms are clearly from own our time.

      Cut-out, collage, 'decoupe', 'mixed media' are all names for the techniques used; a charcoal and conte portrait was sketched and then cut from brown paper and applied to a sheet of soft grey; white bristol makes her large, handsome collar and the jasmine flowers hovering around her are simple stars of white paper, fastened down lightly.

Woman with Jasmine Flowers, detail.  Sarah Myers
Mixed media.

Line Drawings - Baroque Mantle, Lady with Feathers and Pearls

Baroque Mantle, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

   These drawings are simple in their use of line but somewhat ornate in the style they portray, with embroidered fabric, pearls and curling hair; the two faces – two imaginary portraits - contrast, one with open glance and one with a more tranquil but reserved downward gaze.

Lady with Feathers and Pearls, Sarah Myers
Minimal line drawing in charcoal

Three Faces - Drawings by Sarah Myers

Woman in a Sun-hat, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

    A lady in a sun-hat, a woman in a scarf and one with flowing hair – here are three drawings from my series of minimal sketches, black charcoal describing the outlines of faces, the glances of the eyes, forming expressive portraits from lines that are almost abstract in themselves.

Woman with Long Hair, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal line, charcoal on paper

Lady with a Scarf, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal line, charcoal on paper

A Small Sculpture, Kneeling Woman - Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

  She kneels back on her heels, her arms outstretched to catch a garland of silver chain or whatever is placed in her delicate fingers. She looks down – intent and tranquil at the same time, head turned a little aside.

    This tiny sculpture is barely 13 cm high, its details formed with a gentleness appropriate to its size; but in the stretch and the simplicity of position there is a hint of monumentality, and it makes her, for a moment's glance, a real statue expressing her own quiet vitality and gravity.

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers
Detail of back.

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, side
Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers

Three Pictures of Pigeons - Drawings by Sarah Myers

Pigeon Strutting, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

    Three pigeons busy themselves in these drawings. Strutting, preening, scratching, the friendly birds appear in dark charcoal on the white page, descriptions of their everyday life rendered simple and distinct by the strength of a bright sun...

Pigeon Preening, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

Pigeon Scratching, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

Renaissance Condottiere - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Contemporary sculpture

     This Renaissance warrior in an impressive helmet may look slightly familiar from a profile among the incredible drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci. My sculpture of some years ago, along with being created in the round, also differs from the Old Master's sketch in the height of the crested helm, which more closely resembles Spanish armour from fifty to a hundred years later. But the scowling, proud profile gazing from under the beaked visor bears a very close likeness, as do the fantastic animals which adorn the front of the burgonet and the breastplate.

     With these photographs I am revisiting a piece produced almost a decade ago. Some things I might do a little differently now, such as reducing the startling size of my signature. But I remain as intrigued by the Da Vinci design as ever, which indeed has been a source of excitement since I first found it in a child's book of Leonardo's art many years earlier still, where the drawing was printed in the small volume I looked at practically before I could read. And the sculpture itself is a solid presence that continues to fill its space admirably, I believe, and one that I remain pleased with as it stares out at me, gaze unchanging, from under the shade of its formidable helmet.  

  

Condottiere, Sarah Myers, detail in monochrome

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Close-up.  Sculpture in stoneware.

Head of a Woman in Conte & Charcoal - Art by Sarah Myers

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers
Conte, charcoal on toned paper

    Having finished this sketch this morning I thought I would post it here - the drawing of a face with luminous highlights pouring over rounded forehead and cheeks and leaving a spark in the iris of each eye, while outlining layers of curls and beaded ribbon above. The forward tilt of the head leaves the woman's neck in shadow; lower down the light falls very simply.

The hairstyle is a fantastical one inspired by the Italian painter Fra Filippo Lippi, but the portrait itself tends more toward the tradition of eighteenth century drawings and the mediums used are similar; conte in white, red and brown; charcoal, and toned paper of a light brown.

Head of a Woman, detail.  Sarah Myers

Three Renaissance Hats - Drawings by Sarah Myers

Woman in Renaissance Plumes, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper

    In my collection of minimal line drawings I found these three women with elaborate Renaissance headgear; hats of velvet and silk, laced with pearls and topped by plumes, clasped with a jeweled brooch, or set on top of abundant, flowing curls.

All of these drawings are in charcoal on paper and come from a long series of sketches in simple line.

Woman in Renaissance Turban, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper

Woman with a Renaissance Hat, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper

The Fishbowl - Drawing by Sarah Myers

The Fishbowl, Sarah Myers
Drawing in charcoal on paper

    Within the transparent globe of the bowl, the fish steers itself softly through the water; behind, looking into its small world, a woman watches its swift movements. Simple lines in charcoal capture the fish, glass sphere, and the onlooker. This is from an ongoing series of sketches and drawings in minimal line. You can find many more of them on my website, Sarah Myers Art.

The Fishbowl, detail
Sarah Myers