Padaung "long-neck" girl
 

This past summer I was in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and -briefly - Myanmar (Burma). While in northwest Thailand I visited several Padaung "long-neck" villages. The Padaung are an ethno-linguistic subgroup of the Karen people, originally from Myanmar, many of whom have resettled in northern Thailand as refugees. The brass ornaments worn by the Padaung women around their neck and limbs look like separate rings but are actually continuous coils that may weigh up to 20 kg. The neck coils depress the collarbone and rib cage, making it look as if their necks are unnaturally stretched. I noticed that little girls, like this one, wore fairly small coils, that would be gradually increased in size as she grew into adulthood.

I wasn't entirely comfortable walking through these villages with my sizable Nikon camera, though they certainly made me feel welcome nonetheless. Tourism is how these refugees make a living. They don't ask for money if you want to photograph them, but they are all selling trinkets and souvenirs....I have a LOT of trinkets from these villages - as well as a lot of photographs. In talking with them, I realized that most of them were in Thailand by choice - to escape a potentially much worse fate back in their native Myanmar. They seem to welcome tourism, as the best way they can make a living under present circumstances. As fewer and fewer Karen women are adopting the coil-wearing tradition, it is gradually dying out - as it should, I think - though tourism is no doubt slowing this trend somewhat.

Conte on Rives BFK (buff). 22" X 30"

David, this is an exquisite drawing.

Oddly enough, I happened to be in Ripley's "Believe It or Not Museum" in NYC this past weekend, and this tradition was prominently shown. If I recall the tradition began as a kind of above the waist chastity best, in that the men of the tribes felt that by forcing the girls and women to do the neck coils, the women would be found unattractive by other men. Eventually it evolved into a kind of beauty symbol.

To me it has a complex kind of attraction, part beauty, and part train wreck fascination. The exhibit showed an array of those terribly deformed necks and clavicles.

I think you should approach the museum about including your drawing or print, in the exhibit.

I actually found this exhibit compelling, and I think that your drawing conveys, at least my emotional response through this young girl.

Ripley's is definitely weird, kind of a side show anachronism, but I am sure he had a very interesting life, one that Hemingway would have either abhorred or coveted.

David, I am very impressed by this sensitive drawing. You have amazing control and finesse; can you share some tips for working with conte? (Tell me everything you know.)

(Glad to see you posting on here again, by the way. ;) )

David - what a gorgeous drawing. I keep coming back to look at it.

I was watching a show called Taboo where they featured these women, but I came in too late to catch that part. I'm with Chris - it's fascinating, beautiful in it's odd way, and bizarre and strange and awful all at the same time.

But certainly you have captured this girl and her quiet beauty.

David,
how nice to see a new drawing of yours! I particularly love your choice of medium : this sanguine tone emphasizes your subject.
I'll come back often to see this : I have a head an shoulders in sanguine to draw these days

Congratulations on this beautiful exotic portrait.

David,

What a beautiful drawing! For me, her humanity and individuality speak so clearly that the coil around her neck seems part of her rather than a bizarre form of torture for beauty's sake. I do love the use of conte in this drawing. Your trip sounds amazing!

Chris, thank you so much. Yeah, I have to say, walking through these villages was a bit of a "Ripley" experience. I mean, that's why tourists go there - to gawk and photograph a people who deliberately deform themselves. There is a kind of freak show aspect to it all that I was not at all comfortable with. On the way to these villages - one of which we could only get to by boat down the Pai river - we'd see hand painted signs that read "Longneck village, 2 km." with a funky cartoon of a longneck woman. I lived in China for several years and occasionally would see an ancient woman hobbling down the road with impossibly small, bounded feet. That was certainly freaky to see, but you'd never see dozens of them gathered together "on display" as it were, in a "bounded feet village." But of course, as an artist in Thailand I found myself really drawn to these people, just the look of their shiny coils, other decorations, native dress... my inhibitions/revulsion were put on hold. I knew I wanted to draw and paint them.

From everything I've read about them, no one is certain when or why this tradition started, though the explanation you mentioned certainly is one of the stronger theories out there. Different tribes will explain it differently.

Linda, thanks and I'm glad you like this drawing. Believe me, I'm no expert with conte (you should talk to Marina!). I've dabbled with it here and there in life drawing classes, but this is my first somewhat finished drawing with it. What inspired me to do this one was Susan Lyons' beautiful conte portraits that were on display at last year's PSA conference - I'm guessing you saw them there...they can also be seen on her and Scott's website. She had mentioned that she used Rives BFK paper and loved it. I know this paper well from my printmaking days - and I've got to say, it is a very beautiful surface to draw on with conte.

I used a Cretacolor conte pencil which I sharpened often, and that's it. I didn't want to use a conte stick in conjuction as it would add a whole other quality and/or color. I found that in laying down light tones and going over it with a blending stump gave me some very beautiful passages - these lighter tones just glow on this paper. Going darker is a bit problematic. I'm so used to charcoal which gives...black. The darkest that conte will go is not that dark. And even then I was pretty sure I didn't want to go completely saturated with the conte. I had a feeling I wouldn't like it. So I guess you have to decide what value is going to represent your darkest darks - and then be careful not to go darker anywhere else.

Just my two cents' worth. :)

Cindy, thank you.
You're absolutely right - it's all those things at once.

Masterful, as always...

(Thanks too, David, for the discussion of the technique.)

All the best--T

Marina, coming from a conte/sanguine master, your praise means a lot! Thank you.
Alex, I'm so glad you said this. Thank you. I really wanted to - as far as possible - de-emphasize the unusual brass coil and focus on her inherent beauty and personality. She's just an ordinary little girl, beautiful, normal. Beyond that, I just wanted to allow the viewer to project whatever they wish onto the unusual aspect of the subject, with as little commentary from me as possible.

Whispered beauty
 

This drawing whispers beauty to me. Very deftly handled. Now I am eager to try the Rives BFK paper with conte. Thank you for sharing your process and your travels. What a great experience you had.

Thank you Patty for finding the words I needed.

David,
I have looked at your drawing several times and found my self listening to the whispering from the sensitive, delicate nuances in the face, and every time wondered about the punch of them.

Beautiful :)

I love seeing your drawings, David. They are always so sensitive and your technique is flawless. I'm also eager to try the Rives paper, next supply order will include it. I also want to thank you for sharing your tips on technique.

This must have been an inspiring trip for you, as it would anyone. Seeing it through the eyes of an artist, (and through your interpretation of it) is a real treat for me.

Jean

Tom, as always, thank you for your feedback!

Patricia, I'm sure you will enjoy the Rives paper. Thanks.
Allan, I have spent the last few hours musing on what you wrote. I may be completely misreading what you intended, but let me try: I took what you wrote as a critique - a very insightful, valuable and welcome critique. As I see it, my strengths are all about capturing subtlety, the "delicate nuances" as you put it, but I wonder if I am missing or neglecting something that is at least as important, the immediacy that I see in work I admire, the "punch" as it were. I think this drawing has some nice aspects to it, but I feel - as I do with most of my work - that it lacks something, that maybe it's too refined, too polished. And I am guessing that the real problem is that I am - once again - copying a photograph. I think if I were drawing this girl from life it would be an entirely different experience - and result. So, I thank you from my inmost heart for your penetrating and insightful response to my work. Even if this is nothing close to what you meant! :) Thank you!

Jean, thank you so much. This trip I took certainly was an adventure. I have to say that my favorite place was Cambodia. I would love to spend three or four months there, going out every day doing plein-air watercolors, or just drawing. The landscape is incredible, and though it is usually oppressively hot and muggy, the sky is almost always crystal clear all the way to the horizon. Unbelievable skies. And all the ancient temples - and the people....just an amazing place.

David,
I had no intention to give a critique, I am just a foreigner that pick the wrong words.
I guess that I should have written that I am stunned in stead of wondering of the punch of the "delicate nuances".

Let me explain: I am impressed by the impact, "punch" of the content / expression of the subtle nuances in the face. You have done so little, with such a great effect.

One of the things that I admire is when painters express them self with economy, meaning expressing things with ( apparently ) ease. This happens often if a painting / drawing is made in a rush, things are not re don very much but painted by instinct.

A drawing can be done in any manner and I think that you have succeeded doing what you set up for.

This is incredibly sensitive. I am very impressed. Absolutely stunning. I agree with all that has been said here by others.

I got you. Allan, I always learn so much from you - even when I misread what you write! And you are not a "foreigner" - we're all one. Thank you.

Linda, thank you so much for your kind response.

David

I couldn't resist sharing this one. When I met this little girl she was sitting outside her village classroom holding this pair of funny glasses. She happily obliged me.

Absolutely lovely drawing, David!

David,

I

LOL David, It just proves that kids are the same all around the world. The second photo , with the glasses, makes her seem less bothered by those rings on her neck. Thanks for posting that.

I love this drawing. Thanks for sharing your technique.

David,

Wow! What a treat for us, and how arresting! Like Allen says, there is quite a punch in those masterful unique nuances, only you can produce. The key of sanguine makes the perfect song.

Thanks for the delightful photo too! That's a classic.

Among your many fans,

Garth

Thomasin, thanks for your feedback. It's a real boost.

Carlos, you are right - there is a wonderful warm quality about sanguine that always informs the subject matter. And I love the associations with the drawings of past masters that - for myself anyway - this unique medium inevitably conjures, even with a less-than-perfect attempt such as this. There just seems to be built-in art historical references with the medium itself.

Linda, thanks! I love this photo. And you are absolutely right. It does seem to speak to our commonalities which run far deeper and are more profound that any observed cultural differences.

Richard, thank you. I do feel like whatever "technique" I have is pretty straightforward - there is way more about this medium that I don't know!

Garth. As always, it's a treat to get your feedback. Thank you very much.

David

Beautiful drawing, David. Your high school students have no idea what a treasure of an artist you are!