Hanna Precarious

This was a beautiful day for drawing, with tons of sunshine filtering in through the blinds. Unfortunately because the studio room faces south, the light raced from one end of the couch to the other during the pose this afternoon. I probably should have worked faster and done three or four!

NuPastel on Kraft paper, 24"x36"

Hanna, a double session Monday

Monday is a long day; we worked together for the afternoon, and then Hanna modeled for the DASL night class. That left lots of drawings to work through today.

All work is NuPastel n 24"x36" Kraft paper.

This first is from the afternoon session.



The next two were the long poses from the DASL class, a half hour each.

This first one is missing the support behind her head, alas I got lost on Hanna's legs and only had time to sketch in where it should go....



We had been working on foreshortening during the afternoon, so this next position was pretty irresistible, what with things poking up everywhere. My favorite part is the little bit of fingers showing just above the breast, between the legs. The harsh light also lent itself to abstracting the figure; Tony-my-neighbor called it a Group of 7 knockoff :)

Hanna Distracted

This is the last from the Wednesday & Thursday sessions (or at least the last salvageable one). Though the drawing is a little hasty, I quite like the pose, Hanna was engaged with some pictures up on the wall, and not too concerned about forcing a pose. Could be interesting to extend the picture to the left, and put in an Olympia, or Venus of Urbino, or the central part of Courbet's Artist's Studio

Hanna and Shorty

Shorty does not approve of people sitting on his couch. But he can be bought off cheap!

24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft Paper.

Hanna

The collaboration with Hanna continues; we spent Wednesday & Thursday on these (and some others). Working with a single professional model over an extended period is very rewarding; it allows more experimentation (and yes, more mistakes!) but at the same time is more particular. For me this is important, as we move away from the traditional notion of the figure - as pretty much a design (i.e. a flower pot would do just as well), or simple eye candy - and towards something closer to portraiture, but of the full and complete individual.

These are all 24"x36", NuPastel on Kraft paper; the poses were 10-30 minutes.

Hanna

There's times when even I realize I have to dial back my loose drawing tendencies - even to the extent of doing Very Bad Things, like drawing from photos. But one must be willing to suffer for art!

Pencil on 11x14 Canson 65lb Sketch pad.

Katie, Steve

Saturday was the Findlay Center Drawing Group run by Richard Rudnicki; Monday was at the DASL life drawing sessions with Jane Schlosberg.
The model for the first was Katie (11x14, pencil on a Canson sketch pad):



This one took about half an hour, though it could have used a much longer time. I always find getting started on a Saturday morning such slow going!

Monday night, Steve posed again.. I find him very interesting to draw, particularly as he has a quite gentle presence and really carved body. Intriguing, but difficult to combine the two.

These are NuPastel on 24"x36" Kraft paper. The first two were 15 minute poses, the third was 35 minutes.