New model and some dramatic poses

What the post brought, Emily G, pastel drawing in altered sketchbook

It's always fun to draw a new model in Sudbury Life Drawing Group. Emily G is a performance artist who works mostly with children. I was on the side of the room with the light at my back, close to the model, so for once I could see really well. That didn't mean my drawings were better, though. Of the seven I made, these three were the best. Two ten-minute poses and the portrait which was about 25 mins. Emily has some large tattoos.  You can see one peeking over her shoulder.

10 minute pose, Emily G, charcoal on paper

Head back, Emily G, charcoal on paper

Poor Emily found almost immediately that her neck was hurting in this pose, so she tilted her head back further... rather than change the shapes, I left the head unfinished. 

I'm not sure when I made these  pastel drawings in my altered sketchbook, A Bold Venture, of Terry… it may have been the same day as what happened next.

A Shattering Blow, Terry, pastel drawing in altered sketchbook

Quenched Flames, pastel drawing in altered sketchbook

A Friend in Need, pastel drawing in altered sketchbook

The last time I drew Terry I began by covering my paper in vine charcoal and used the subtractive method of drawing to begin. As it turned out, that was a good warm-up for Terry's unusual scenario next...

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Terry had brought a big piece of plastic sheeting which he draped over himself. It forced even the most figurative of us to work more abstractly.

A dance of colour with Doreen

Doreen in motion with sheer cloth

We began with a long very slow movement by Doreen with cloth. It was long enough to say something about the shape and movement but not long enough to resolve anything. 

On the heels of Tim's workshop, using pastels instead of a paintbrush, I worked small and directly, looking for the colour and the tone but intending colour studies rather than accurate colour.  For me, today, the goal was to create believable light by approximating the relationship between the tones and colours without being slavish to skin tone. 

5 mins 10x10cm

5 mins 10x10cm

5 mins 10x10cm

25 mins 12 x16cm

Zooming, changing the focus, abstracting shapes

charcoal on paper, 16x14 cm

I have a bunch of ideas I want to explore and one of them is about memories of my young family. I began this project by looking through one of many boxes of old photos. From there I drew a memory by choosing elements from a few photos, creating a mood and story that never really existed but feels true, with lots of truths within it.

B & W print of oil pastel, crop

B & W print of oil pastel, crop

I am using lots of different media, including those fat oil pastels that are like using a big paintbrush to get a feeling rather than a detail.  Ultimately I want to paint from these ideas but for the moment I am trying to keep it open so I can figure out what I want to say and how I might say it.

B & W print of oil pastel, crop

B & W print of oil pastel, crop

watercolour and gouache on book page

pencil on paper 16 x 25 cm

oil pastel on paper 17 x 12 cm

A departure - drawing a clothed model

charcoal on paper 17 x 17cm

A few weeks ago a circular went around asking if anyone wanted to share the cost of a clothed model to draw, for portraiture. When I finished my Still Red Room pastel, I thought I might like to set up an interior in the studio and possibly hire a person to sit for me in it.  Then I went to Maine and now it's open studios so I haven't tackled a new big project yet. 

Today I went to this new group.  I was hoping that the model would be in a really inspiring setting, wearing wonderful clothes but she was in a portraiture setting. She has a compelling face and the light was beautiful.

I began with charcoal. I haven't drawn a model in this way in years and years. I thought I'd work tonally. It's a three hour drawing session andI was working on the top of my pastel 'table', a box easel with the easel part taken off so I couldn't work on anything big on that. I had brought a few sketchbooks appropriate for life drawing shorter poses. Never mind.

It turns out it doesn't matter how long the pose is.  I can begin again in a different way when I'm done.  The second drawing was on book pages.  Teven, the model,  liked that one and took a photo of it.  The final drawing was looser and I rearranged the room in my head and thought of Dorothy Eisner.

Pastel on book pages 13.5 x 20 cm

pastel on paper 16 x 16 cm

A new Model

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2 X 2 min

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10 min

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 I remembered to bring my smaller pad with under-painted pages and attempted to apply my summer drawing approach to the model.  Looking at Vuillard before the session evident.