Life Drawing

We were drawing yesterday at Adrienne's with Bob for a model. I felt he had an interesting character face so I concentrated on mostly the head for the long pose. Again, I am using "wilder" colour - and really enjoying it. Actually the pastels work together nicely and the colours are quite effective. I'm beginning to think I prefer the darker papers to work on-- I think this colour is called "tobacco" so I will have to pick up more of this shade. It is easier to get the edges to stand out when there is a contrast with the background. First, I work on the drawing- placement, proportions and so on. Then I like to block in some lights- figuring out what is the lightest light- and then the shadow areas- and keep on working from there. This is a two-hour pose and I think the timing was right. That is, I had enough time to get as much done as I wanted. The background is just paper colour as there was enough contrast. This was all done in hard pastels with just a bit of pan pastels at the beginning to block in lights and darks. I didn't use pastel pencils at all as I was working large enough that I didn't need them for fine lines. And, I forgot the few soft pastels that I have- so they didn't get used on this one. It was a good drawing session- with the usual variety of styles and media by the different artists - all good, all different!

Life Drawing today-

This is what I did at our Life Drawing session today. Then I made two decisions. One was to  sign and date my drawings that I'm currently keeping. The other decision was to make a new category for my Pinterest and have it just all drawings from Life Drawing - and just my own work on that one. Some of my cat paintings are on my "Cats" category but there are other cats too. I used a fairly dark brown pastel paper for this one and also used some soft pastels as well as my harder ones - and some of the powder ones that come in dishes too. This was about 2 and a half hours of work- maybe a little less- hard to figure out how long the breaks were. Upper left corner was a shadow on the paper when it was photographed. I felt it worked fairly well- lots of colours, lots of layering, I was almost going to do a drawing that was more profile and had rim lighting- but then I thought she had an interesting face so I wanted a better view of her face. I also liked the hand placement. I chose to cut off the lower body because I thought it made a better composition with the hands leading your eye back up the face and around again. Including the feet would have meant the head would be much smaller - and, it was the face that I found especially appealing so I didn't want it to be miniscule. I draw smaller, usually, on Wednesday nights so I needed to work larger again. I'll have to try to photograph my black and white pencil (on gray paper) drawings that I have been doing. Of course, they aren't as finished pieces since they are mostly only about 20-minute poses.

Back View- drawing or painting?

Here is a pastel from a week ago. There is some discussion in the pastel side of the art scene as to whether pastels are drawing or paintings. I usually think of mine as drawings since there is visible paper... as there is in this case. I used a tinted paper, but it is still paper. If a pastel is covered from edge to edge, then it gets considered to be a painting. The pigment that forms the chalks used is the same pigment used in paints. In acrylic paints, for example, the pigment is suspended in a plastic emulsion. Pastel is a combination of chalk, pigment and a binder. Paper is usually textured to hold the pastel in place and finished works are displayed under glass for protection. However, they are as lasting works of art as any other medium. Unframed, they are easy to store and take up less space than canvases. Since I love doing figure drawings but they don't really sell in this marketplace, I'll continue with pastels for figure work on a general basis. They also give a chance to play with colour in a different way. I was pleased to have a good chance to work on a back view.

Drawing today

Drawing again today with the-every-other-Friday group. This was our model - although this pastel was done on another day. I'll post today's drawing when I've photographed it.  It is always a challenge to figure out what will be a good composition as well as to try to get the lights and shadows. Nadine has a flair for bringing interesting props and getting into acting the part. I've been enjoying my new set of  hard pastels as well as the few very soft ones that are applied with a sponge. I was tidying a drawer in my art supplies desk and re-discovered some old  "regular" soft pastels. There are some nice ones that could be good for nude studies so I"ll have to remember them when we have a Wednesday night long pose- and I'll have fun with a full range of skin tones. The last long pose was Steve in a Mike Hammer mood. I found it took some thinking so it didn't end up like an ad for men's clothing. Again, one to be photographed and posted at a later date. The chance to do longer poses makes an interesting change from the shorter ones. Our usual sessions start with one minute warm-up poses and then go up to 20 or 30 minute ones. The drawing above was about one and a half hours- less breaks for the model.

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.

Another day, another drawing

Today was drawing at Gail's and we had Helene for a model. She has such a twinkle in her eyes. I love her curly hair and had fun with hair in my pastel drawing. Well, I call it a drawing but some people refer to these more finished pieces as pastel *paintings*. We were talking a bit about modelling and how some people think it is easy -"just sit". However, holding a pose is not that simple and getting back into the same position, after a break, requires a real sense of presence. Also, there is a rapport between the model and the artist or artists. Helene said that the model has to be in the present moment. If she is modelling for a class, she will adjust her poses to the points that the instructor is teaching. We got the lighting just right and all the results turned out well. Of course, each artist has his or her own style so there were individual interpretations. I love drawing people and am definitely interested in doing portraits - should the opportunity arise. Some artists do a lot of obvious measuring. I used to - but quite often I just "eyeball" it - comparing shapes to shapes as I block it in - maybe it is a bit looser that way?