Ruth, Continued

A lovely day to continue on with previous work, like this one (at the bottom of the page) from Wednesday.

Ruth

Wednesday was a delightful day here in Halifax - proper summer weather! And to top it off, Ruth was wearing a delightful orange sundress (is that what they're called? My fashion sense is abysmal). My only regret is that I chose to start off in charcoal. Well maybe there's another, my drawing was quite stiff to start off with. Anyway, I love the ways these things hang on her.

And as usual she struck some graceful poses.

Anita

I guess I don't exactly provide the best working conditions here. Thanks goodness Anita is a trooper!

Ruth, Working Hard

On Tuesday, I was working with Ruth, and we spent most of the time on longer poses. These can be hard - though this might look easy, try doing it for an hour:

Finally caught up....

Last Friday we worked with Anita, who as usual provided some delightfully difficult warmup poses. I really have to get my litho press working....

Catching up with Anita

With Anita, I have started laying out something more formal, probably along these lines:

Catching up with Ruth

Well, I've been very busy these days (somebody has to go outside and keep track of the sun after all). And Billy is back:

That was taken the day he arrived from Alberta - a long plane ride, followed by a swim and a romp in the mud. As you can see, my Venus de Dartmouth is really stressed.

Meanwhile, I have been active in the studio, both with Ruth and Anita.

Studio Life

I've been working with a young artist recently (Ruth), and recently one of my favourite models (Anita) has become available. So on Friday we worked together. I've always enjoyed doing work centered on the observed life around me (such as skateboarders, or my partner and her dogs, or my dog) , one recent aspect being just what goes on here...it's a more than a little sloppy and fast, but if I have one real regret it's in not absolutely destroying the perspective (though I got a good start at that ) and bringing Ruth up closer. Ah well, next time...

Time flies

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since last August. Well, time to catch up. It's not that I haven't been busy...

Nicole: Pastel on Kraft paper, 24"x36"

Anita Relaxing

Alas, I'm going to be losing Anita soon - she's a delight to work with, and after several sessions, I feel like I'm just beginning to "see" her. Plus she's quite good at creating striking up interesting poses like this one, relaxed but somewhat intense, and holding it well. (These things are not easy). And I could spend hours just working on her hair....

Some Oldies....

Yesterday was not a great day. I would have much rather spent the day drawing Lisa, but alas, a stomach bug intervened. So I spent the day photographing work from this spring - I'm so far behind! - and I'll try to get some of the photos up over the next couple of days. These were done at the Wednesday DASL life sessions. Both are 24"x36", pastel on Kraft paper.

Jennifer and David

Jennifer and David are a couple I've been working with for awhile - with Jennifer somewhat longer than with David - and I am dying to do a double portrait (or a family one), maybe in encaustic, or maybe in oil. The problem is that it can take me forever to actually "see" people, especially when they are lively and fascinating. So in the meantime, I work with them individually.

Jennifer:


David:


My initial ideas for a family portrait run to something like Schiele's:



but not so morose. But it is a classic sort of ordering, echoed in in things like this old milk ad Jennifer sent me:

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

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.