Latest photographs

Here's Charlie! This is a a 45-minute conte' drawing done at the Marathon put on by Phoenix Art Workshop. This was the first day, first set of poses and Guy posed as Charlie Chaplin. I might put in a couple of 3-minute sketches if I can get them to photograph because he had some good poses. This one was with a stuffed animal. I had a decent day getting photos of some of my recent conte' work...the light has to be right. I'm wondering if I can get some other hard pastels as I haven't been able to find any more coloured conte'. I've got lots of the black, white and siennas used for sketching but the other range of colours seems to have disappeared from the market. I prefer them to soft pastels for the kind of work that I do. They are certainly easier to carry around as there is not the same need for a huge assortment of colours. Also, I don't need the really expensive paper such as used for soft pastels. I just use Canson Mi-Tientes and then give them a light spray with a fixative.
One virtue to drawings of all kinds is that paper is easy to stack and they don't take up the space that canvases do. The disadvantage would be if I wanted to show them in a gallery, they would all have to framed under glass. So far, I'm just enjoying do these and I'm not thinking of showing the conte' work..... and now I really am at the end of the month!

Christmas fast approaching

Christmas is getting closer and tomorrow we have a small group for Life Drawing and a potluck lunch. It is always nice to fit in a bit of socializing while keeping a hand in drawing. I've got the cards done and mailed and am taking a break from tree decorating. I think I like the Grand Firs better but they were out of them and now I have a Noble Fir. It smells great but was really heavy and now I'm thinking it is awfully dense for decorating. I like it when there are spaces for a bit of see-through. The drawing here is one that was done in the small group - coloured conte' on pastel paper. It just got rejected from a show but I know it is a good drawing - especially with the leg muscles. Sometimes there is a real prejudice, still, against nudes in art. When a person gets rejected, it just can't be taken personally and, in the long run, really means nothing.

Drawing Marathon

Behind in blogs again- one marathon was getting cards out. Then, this past weekend, I took part in a drawing marathon. I didn't do the whole 18 hours, but I did do 6. It was fun - and I certainly would take part again. Since I am not a really fast painter, I worked with coloured conte' crayons -a chalk pastel of medium softness. One session was a nude in 30-minute poses, after some warm-up poses. Another was a ballerina in a two-hour pose - again- after some warm-up poses. We had a showing with a reception at the end of the weekend and I thought I'd take my two-hour drawing. Upon reflection, I decided it was too pastel and too static and a thirty-minute pose was much more dynamic - so- here is my almost-reclining nude.