Jenny Schools Shorty

Jenny schooling Shorty last Friday on how to hold a pose. These two always look great together, but Shorty does have a short attention span, and tends to go off in a huff if he doesn't get the main focus. But he does have a good teacher!

A Couple of Couples

A couple of couples from the last little while.

Jenny and Eric


Jennifer and David:


I quite like both, but I think the second is quite special. I like the feeling of sheltering and sheltered created by David and Jennifer, and it would be be worth pushing forward into something more permanent. If, of course, David's back can take it (it's actually a difficult pose to hold). In return, I promise to put in his missing fingers.

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.

Jenny

Though as usual I haven't posted much, it's been a busy month. Lots of drawings to - which I hope to catch up on with respect to posting - and back at etching. (And yes, I'm working on Sasha's portrait :) ).

I think this is my favourite picture (so far) of Jenny, who is a delight to work with. Unfortunately (as usual) I spent way too much time on the hair, so ran short on the feet. And someday I will get the details of those tattoos down.



There's a few more, not so good, where I made her look far older than she looks in real life. Interesting how that happens, but I thought I should put them in for completeness..


And of course, one in the red robe. I should start a special collection of these...

Jennifer

Last week, if I remember correctly, was wet outside from the rain the night before, while the studio was an even worse shambles than usual. So we started in the kitchen, shooting the breeze while I worked on quick sketches. This is partly to warm up, partly to test positions for a final, more formal drawing, and mostly to keep pushing me away from the can-of-beans approach to working with lively and interesting people...





At one point Shorty - who is almost always present, trying to edge into the picture in one way or another - caught Jennifer's eye, and that set the basis for the drawing. As usual, I got totally lost in Jennifer's hair - it's wonderful to draw, particularly when backlit.



This week, on the hand, we were back in the studio for more traditional work. I don't know how she holds a pose like this, it would be beyond me. And this time instead of getting lost in Jennifer's hair, I got lost in her hands. (Sorry Jennifer!)

Another week goes by....

At least this time I have a good reason for not posting much, it's been a busy one for drawing! Probably the best way to catch up is just to put them up in the order they were done, all in one post. I try to schedule two to three sessions a week, but this week two new-to-me models became available (Jennifer R. and Aura King); both brought an interest in the arts as well as the history of modeling, so I got to learn a lot.

Monday was with Shawn. Unfortunately the session got cut short somewhat, since I wanted to go over to his place and meet Sasha (his dog). I would like to get to work on a painting including the two of them.



Tuesday was Lisa. If she's looking a little pained, well she was, with a bad crick in her neck. But she was kind enough to sit anyway, and I sort of regret not getting the icepack in. Or a bag of frozen peas....



Wednesday was the first of the new models, Jennifer R. Jennifer is an experienced photographer & model, but I had my usual trouble sorting out drawings with new people. As an added bonus, she lent me the book Alias Olympia, by Eunice Lipton. It's based around Lipton's search for who Victorine Meurent really was. She also provided a link to quite an amusing website for playing with digital photos, BigHugeLabs.



Aura E. King is a writer, dancer, and a well known model in Halifax (especially at NSCAD), who is currently working on a book on classical modeling. I got to pick her brain quite a bit on the history of classical modeling (I had no idea, for example, that for much of history since the Renaissance, modeling was generally the domain of families, much as any other craft..)



And finally on Friday, Jennifer. Maybe it's the fact that I had been drawing all week, or maybe it's the fact that Jenn's a country and western fan (like me), but somehow we managed to get two drawings done, both of which I like.

Jennifer

Jennifer's another new-to-me model, though she's worked a fair bit for the other side (photographers). It was really interesting talking to her about the difference between the two different forms; I learned a lot. And although they are quite different, she took to the figure work quite naturally. Not an easy task, both gesture work and longer poses are quite at variance with photographic practice.

As for me, I struggled with my usual problems of working with a new model - learning to see someone new as they are, and how to represent them. But the weather at least cooperated - cold and damp outside - which gave me all the excuse I need to crank up the heat and turn on all the lights. I like a cozy & bright place to work. And for a first go, I'm happy with this, and look forward to working with Jennifer again.