I forget which poet is responsible for the phrase, but it has often been said that “distance lends enchantment to the view.” Actually, looked at from an artistic point of view it is much more important than that.
Last night I broke out of my artistic inertia and managed to do a small portrait of my wife, in pencil. She was watching TV, and I sat on an adjacent chair. It wasn’t bad (and in fact, after I had managed to correct it there was a pretty good likeness) but it did need tweaking. Only after I had put it up on an easel in the studio, and had the chance to inspect it properly, did I realise what the problem was. The distance from the base of the nose to the mouth was too small, because the nose had been drawn fractionally too long, and the distance from the mouth to the bottom of the chin was slightly too long. These proportions were correctable relatively easily, but it is interesting to reflect on how these errors came about.
The problem was that I was sitting down, and unable to get any distance from my work. I realised how important it is to be able to stand back from work as it develops in order to see that proportions and angles have been correctly observed. If you are too close to the image it is not possible to judge those things properly.
It has struck me on previous occasions that this has been a frequently-occurring problem at the life-drawing group I attend. The session takes place in a very congenial room–but quite a small one, considering the number of us that there are in the group. You find yourself with your back to the wall, as often as not, so that it is impossible to stand back from a developing drawing or painting in order to check properly on the proportions of the figure. When I go to the session tonight I will try to position myself with this consideration in mind. It might be a good idea to mention it to the instructor, to see how it would be possible, within the limitations of the space, to improve everybody’s visibility.