Black and white for last "long pose" of the season

This was our last  Friday "long pose" as we can't book daytime space once the schoolkids are out and kid's classes are running all the time. I decided to keep it simple and draw in Chinese ink. Paper does make a difference. The top drawings were warm-up poses of one minute each and are drawn with a Chinese brush on cartridge paper. The brush and ink has a lovely flow for doing the quick sketches. The next shown was actually the third from the long pose and I had shifted my position a little.  It is done all with a brush and ink on "terra-skin" - the paper that isn't really a paper as it is actually made from stone. The ink wash puddled a bit more as terra-skin is not as absorbent - so it took longer to dry. I don't really like the mottled effect that results. The next drawing is on vellum paper - a bit creamier and thicker. The washes sunk into the paper quicker so there was more control. The last one is also on vellum paper and there was some pen used as well as the brush. These were all part of a roughly three-hour session - which means a little over two hours of actual drawing time. Although we can't book daytime sessions during the summer, fortunately we still have our Wednesday night Life Drawing.  It is not likely that I'll work in Chinese ink then as we are more crowded and I need a bit of room to work with ink.

Playing with sticks

Yesterday a group of us were drawing and painting with a model. I had decided to just play. Adrienne Moore has done some terrific work using sticks dipped in ink. I tried it once and thought it seemed like fun because you just don't have quite the same control.  The sticks are pieces of dowelling that you break -preferably with holding your hands not too close together so you get a more jagged break. I also took some pieces of dried daylily stems to try as well. I wanted to work with sticks again- not to copy Adrienne, but to use the tools in my own way. I planned to use diluted ink with a Chinese brush as well.  I played around on some cheap paper - even for the one-minute quick poses. I did one on brown wrapping-type paper and put some white gouache on it as well- a bit different.   Then I  decided to try the back of a "failed" watercolour. What a difference good paper makes! On the cheap paper, the lines pretty well stayed put, but on the watercolour paper, coming back in with diluted ink on a Chinese brush, made the lines bleed in an interesting way. I like the bleeding lines in the hair and the drapery at the lower right, especially. I like the face although it is not a good portrait since the tools don't give enough control for real precision.  - but I felt that it was a successful experiment and made for an interesting morning.