Jenny and Shorty

At an ungodly hour of the morning - we got started at 8:30. The sacrifices on must make for art. And Shorty, as usual, was up and down off the couch, curling up at Jenny's feet and grumbling; getting up and moving to her lap, sulking on the floor, he finally gave up trying to be king of the couch and curled up in the other room under the piano. I think in his next life (which may come sooner than he expects) he'll be a diva in Hollywood....

Jenny's a whole lot more fun (and professional) to work with. But for the moment when he was actually settled in, it was rather cute. I think with a few tweaks it might be a usable composition.

Jenny and Eric

Jenny's friend Eric had some time to kill, so he came for our session on last Monday. (For someone who had never modeled before he did well.) I've just started to get back into drawing couples - the day before I had done Jennifer and David, but I'm still working on it (it's a delightful tangle of arms and legs and heavy perspective). Working with couples is very different than drawing a single model, partly because one has to draw a lot faster, and partly because two people set up a visual rhythm between them. And of course it gives me twice as many people to converse with.



That one took awhile, but we still had a bit of time left at the end for a "quick and dirty" sketch. Lots of drawing errors, but I still quite like it.

Lisa Still Wicked

Well not Lisa herself, just the book she is reading. As for me, I'm trying to push the perspective a bit, though it is hard in a small studio. We got two done - I prefer the second to the first.
Here's the first:



The second was rather fun to draw. Lisa took up a pose on the floor with her feet up against the couch, and I stood up on the couch. I wish I had planned the drawing better (or that I had larger paper), I would have liked to get more of her feet in!



As for wicked reading, I'm still engaged in Henry Miller, & am now on my third book in 10 days. Great stuff, though I really should have read it 40 years ago!. Thanks JR.

A Nude Model's Story of Humility and Joy

Anya Wassenberg, writing on HuffPo:

I was going to be an important and well-paid writer, see. The modelling thing, that was just to tide me over till the whole writing gig took off, because I knew that you could basically walk in off the street and get work taking your clothes off for artists. But in the end, I found I liked it so much that I never gave it up. I found that there are many advantages to modelling for artists, though none of them is what you'd expect.

You can read the whole thing here.

Lisa Recumbent

Today was something different with Lisa - I asked her to take the first pose, which is actually a fairly uncomfortable one. I also worked from above, rather than on the same level as the model. She did a good job holding it, and getting back into it after breaks (thanks Lisa!).


I also wished I had slightly wider paper, I would have liked to get the book she was reading into it, Gregory Maguire's Wicked. But it is definitely on my reading list now.

After a hard pose, an easier one, at least for the model. For this one I had my back to the window, and although the shades were drawn the sun (rare thing around here these days!) was streamed in and made it almost impossible to see the sanguine conte on the paper. One does what one must! The cutest part was that Shorty went and actually lay down near her feet - something he will almost ever do for anybody. I think it's because he gets two car rides when Lisa works here...

David Rocks It. (with Bach and Josquin)

Tuesday I worked with David; the warmup sketches were wretched as my hand and mind seem to be going in opposite directions, and even the ink was uncooperative david of course was poised as ever, bless him for his patience! So for the longer work we brought out the big guns - Bach, followed by Josquin's Missa Linga Pange, which David has been kind enough to lend me. He's also provided me with some interesting films - such as Modigliani - I will never complain about my life again! - and Glenn Gould, 32 Short Films - talented oddballs really are worth knowing! Anyway, the Bach and Josquin seemed to work, though I'm not too sure where the color came from :)



I came across a couple of sketches I had done of David back when the the weather was warmer - he's an interesting guy with interesting lanky poses -

Elinor Royale

Today was the first session for Richard's life drawing group at the Findlay Centre, and a great kick-off with the Elinor Uberwench as the first model.

Drawing Elinor is always a pleasure - she's amiable, graceful, and relaxed - and today she seemed to have certain je ne sais quoi touching on royal about her today. Plus some new tattoos.

For me, it was pen and ink and gouache. I put a link in because many artists don't seem too familiar with it anymore - to the point where NSCAD doesn't carry the tubed paints and that most wretched of art suppliers des Serres can't be bothered to keep up their open stock. A shame, because it is great for fast sketchbook work. One more thing to order from away...

Anyway here's two from this morning.