One of the Men in Hats

The weather is wet and windy today - quite miserable out- the kind of weather of which my grandmother used to say "It's not fit for man nor beast- send Father". Nevertheless, I delivered the re-done "Abandoned Farmhouse" and it was happily received. The owner says she didn't think it could be improved but now she sees it has been. So that is a happy ending. .....and it may be wet out there but it is easy to get around. Last week, with the snow, we weren't sure if Life Drawing would take place so the model ended up being cancelled. Some of us went anyway. Happily, although a lot of Richmond had an electricity blackout, the lights were on in the Art Centre. We improvised by taking turns posing for 10 minutes each and had a successful drawing evening anyway. This is Marv, posing with a hat on, as befits one of "The Men in Hats." the 10-minute sketch was done in water-soluble graphite pencil.

Into April...

I've just done my April Newsletter and realizing that, yes, it is a month until DoorsOpen and there will be quite a bit of organizing to do- setting up displays, doing a re-hanging in the main display area, baking a few cookies so I'll have refreshments and figuring out which painting will be the "free draw". Not to mention actually taking advertising brochures around to as many places as possible. In the meantime, regular activities continue (and we are not mentioning the Spring garden clean-up) -such as Life Drawing and a new session starting for Sculpture. I'm working in water-soluble graphite for Life Drawing- in one of my periodic switches of mediums. The combination of the pencil and wash makes an interesting change....until the next switch. This is one of Lawrence done a couple of weeks ago.

Water-soluble graphite pencils

Last night was Life Drawing and for this group, I'm working in a sketchbook - sometimes with ink but mostly with water-soluble graphite pencils. With them, a person draws - and erases- as with a regular pencil. Then, with a brush dipped in plain water, the drawing is "fixed"and also blends so that shadows become washes. It works very nicely as it involves carrying a light load on supplies. Now, one sketchbook is completed. On the reading front, I am now into volume two of the Matisse biography - Matisse the Master- up to page 173 and WWI has begun.