Free models?

Here are a couple of pages from my sketchbook, done in waiting rooms.  I find that people involved with their portable devices are so involved that they have no idea that they are actually posing.

 

As usual, I just draw with a pen and make a mental note of what the "model" was wearing as well as hair colour and then add in the colours with pencil crayons when I am home. It definitely might cause a stir if I started spreading out a set of pencil crayons. So, tomorrow I am off to the car dealership for the car's semi-annual overhaul. I'm hoping I get what I consider a prime seat - one with a good angle for viewing the other people waiting. I'll take a book to read just in case but I"m really hoping to just get in more drawing! ...and no model fees.

More Charlie!

These are the three-minute sketches from Guy posing as Charlie Chaplin at the Drawing Marathon. I did the pen and ink in the three-minute posing time- then added the colour with some pencil crayons later. I often do this in my sketch book - the ink drawings get a bit more solidity that way. Even though fast sketches may not be perfectly accurate, somehow they seem to have a lot of life and can have a bit of something that might be missing from a longer pose and longer time to draw. Of course, it is easier for the model to hold a more difficult pose for a short time. It could be something that might give them cramps if they tried it longer!
     -Next time I'll  probably post some three-minutes of Wanda being a 1930's singer and it can be compared to the longer pose. Anyway, it is all fun ad good practice.

Same painting, two photos

This is my painting for the" Go-go Grannies" here who work to support the African Grannies who are raising their grandchildren when the parents have died of Aids. I wanted to paint a sort of "universal" subject- a grandparent reading to a grandchild and passing on the gift of literacy. I was also interested in African fabrics and wanted to have something authentic as part of the painting. I downloaded some African fabric samples and then had them duplicated several times so I would have enough to collage them onto the canvas. The problem is, that the painting is dark and the light reflects off it- Maybe I should have  tried photography with a matte varnish and then added the satin varnish after- ? Maybe I will be wiser another time! So I think I will send the first photo in - better to have a bit of glare in the lower corner than on the face. Funny, the colours are truer and warmer on the first  photo too. It was done indoors under halogen lights, the second was done outdoors - sunny day, in the shade.

Unusual Wednesday

This is a 45-minute drawing of Wanda being a 1930's singer - from the recent Marathon-  love that hat and the feather boa!

The February issue of Chatelaine has an interesting piece in its Health section. "Boost your spirits by channelling your inner Picasso. A new study out of the University  of Illinois at Chicago reveals that people who create  (or enjoy ) art or music on a regular basis are kinder, more active members of society than their less arty counterparts.  Researchers say the mere act of going to a  gallery or museum improves tolerance, increases compassion and may even spur us to perform more random acts of goodwill."  I'm not sure about all that- except that we sure seem to have a lot of nice, thoughtful people in our group!  As for active- well we always seem to have some upcoming project or event. I've just done a painting for the Royal City Gogos. They are going to have an art tour to raise funds and also make people aware of the African grannies who are raising their grandchildren since the children lost their parents to Aids. I've photographed my painting once but I think I"ll try another shot since it is fairly dark. Then I'll post which ever photo looks the best.

The reason this is an unusual Wednesday? It would be our meeting but the Children's Festival occupies the Painting Room this week and we are cancelled. No drawing or meeting on a Wednesday night is unusual indeed.

Into February

I just did the February newsletter and used this pastel that I did at Life Drawing January 30th. The model is Ariel and we had her again at Adrienne's today. I totally love her hair! It is fun to draw.
I've been reading Janna Malamud Smith's book "An absorbing errand- how artists and craftsmen make their way to mastery". This is a book well worth reading if you write or do  any of the arts. She talks about the need to be alone to work in privacy but says "we also need to be stirred up, stimulated and challenged by others, especially others who share our interests and with whom we feel some modicum of mutual respect." She also says " our own thinking  and creativity are often better catalyzed and stimulated in discourse, not in isolation". I know that for me, being in my drawing group or having a demo at a Guild meeting can set the wheels of creative thinking rolling. For the past while, I've been putting notes from what the demo speaker had to say, right in my sketch book. I often do a drawing of the demo artist too! Then I think about it and write what my take is. Sometimes it is one little idea - for example I think I'll make an accordion sketch book just for fun. I think I'd use mine for Life Drawing. Sometimes I write that I can appreciate what the artist is doing but would not want to work that way myself. Even that is good, because it means I've thought about the way I work and why it works for me.