Sunday, December 12, 2010

Homelessness

Following on from the success of my drawing of "TonyHargreaves" which was voted " the most popular painting" at the Cambridge Drawing Society's Annual exhibition in the Spring, I am now working on an exciting and related project. The chalk drawing I did of Tony clearly touched many people who saw it.



My aim now is to produce a body of drawings and paintings of people who, like Tony, are either homeless or have experienced homelessness and to eventually stage an exhibition of this work . So far, I have visited and sketched in two centres in Cambridge-- Willow Walk and 451 ( Newmarket Road) . I have also written a short article for Flack magazine which is based in Cambridge and is aimed at the homeless, assisting and encouraging them to rebuild their lives. Kirsten Lavers, the Creative Director of the magazine, has been instrumental in introducing me to the centres.

Below are a few of the drawings I have done so far.








Sketching at 451. Michael, one of the residents was the model.


The finished drawing of "Michael" was done in charcoal,chalk and conte on a linen ground prepared with pastel primer.

3 comments:

Naomi C. said...

those are fantastic, its nice to see portraits of some of the people i know. it is easy to pass by people in the street, not think about them, and just ignore them but these seem to convey aspects of their character and help people to see them as individuals with a past. somebodies brother, or father, or son or somebodies sister, mother, or daughter. can't wait to see more.

John Glover said...

Many thanks for your comments Naomi.

Look forward to starting your portrait.

Unknown said...

John, Would you be willing to show your work in Calif? We have a non profit and would like to show your wonderful work in October.