Life drawing in colour

This term I have not enrolled in an art class as the swim season looms and I'm race secretary. I know I'm going to be very busy. But when my friend Fiona asked if I'd go for a casual class, I was quite excited. Firstly because I do like figure drawing and secondly because Fi, who badly needs me-time, is able to go.



We did the usual warm up exercises and then we had an hour long pose. This is really unusual because models usually can't stay still that long. I took the opportunity to do an ink drawing.


We had more time - I then got ambitious and started an acrylic and ink combination- nearly didn't finish it. The pose from this angle was severely fore shortened which made composition difficult. But I'm pleased with the results. Best of all, Fi had a good day and plans to return next week.

The musician

Due to some mix up with dates, I was able to make this fortnight's sketch club. The format was unusual in that we are having a single long pose for 2.5 hours hurray! At last somebody understands what it takes to paint or sculpt.

It turns out that we have a second convenor Matilda who is keen to try different things from Sarah. Our model is the refreshing Mary Jane who is a professional musician (cellist and guitarist). She brought her cello (also named Matilda) with her as prop. Beautiful instrument - all golden wood gleaming. In all, I was set up for a treat!

I knew I'd not have time for a detailed painting so deliberately chose an impressionistic style to capture the scene. It's quite liberating to paint with bold strokes.

Life drawing May

Lately I've gotten into crochet and have neglected my art. However last Sunday I made the life drawing at Art Est. It was packed - so much so that the organizers have decided to hold it on a fortnightly basis.

Our model was Berenice who I suspect is German descent. She spoke with a heavy European accent. Lovely skin and figure. I often wonder what models think of when posing, particularly the longer poses. Do they enjoy being looked at? And the judgement of everyone on one's flaws must be daunting unless possessing a supreme sense of self confidence.

Life drawing w Elly

The weather on Sunday was strange; just as we got ready to go to the beach the sun went behind a cloud and it got cold. So instead we went for pho and I went life drawing.



Elly our ex dancer is very graceful. I like drawing her as she looks good despite the fact that she is middle aged. The muscle tone still going strong - quite an inspiration.



I tried to use pastels in a painterly fashion for this pose. I like the way the colours are muted.


Life drawing is quite refreshing- especially when done occasionally. I left feeling like I'd exercised my artistic 'muscles' - a bit like the high one gets after exercise.

Sketch club May

After a long hiatus I managed to make the sketch club at Art Est and found that all the participants have changed. I shouldn't be surprised I know. Our model was Elly a former dancer and an older woman. She was very graceful.


However the suburb suffered a blackout with the result that Elly was without her heaters and electric blanket and had to be clothed! I thought this an opportunity to draw a portrait.


Eventually the power came back on and she did the last pose nude. Sarah the convenor was evidently frustrated with her efforts as she considered a new hobby. Well none of us were particularly good mainly because we haven't been practicing.

Life painting at last!

For ever so long I've wanted to paint figures from life but the time allowed in life drawing classes and sketch clubs are far too short. Pina's last class had a 20m and 40m pose and I prepared A3 watercolor papers especially for this opportunity.


Here is the 20 min pose. Not very detailed as it's too quick. But the trick is to get the colour palette set up before and then it's a matter of applying not mixing or pondering colour combinations. The next one is better because of the extended time. It is very fore shortened as we are studying perspective.

Fiona

Today's model was Fiona who was plump and dark skinned with heavy hooded eyes. Lovely. You wouldn't gather she's dark skinned from my pictures though! Pina introduced colour today and because I paint, this isn't new.


These were done on brown paper using soft conte and charcoal.


Another development is the 2010 Goya (get off your arts) competition. My friend Jodie runs this event and strong-armed me and my daughter to enter. She's also having Sarina as a burlesque model and invited me and a couple of others to draw. We are the 'live' installation so to speak. Bit of a challenge to do art in front of lots of sticky beaks, however must view this as a promotional opportunity. Plus a chance to draw the lovely Sarina for free! For more info see GetOffYourArts

Second live drawing class with Pina

Murtim was our male model this week. He's Turkish, young, slender but muscular. Lovely physique. Has hair that is long and wavy which Pina requested he bunched up.

Drawing a man is quite different from a woman, Pina suggested we used straight lines and that was most successful with Murtim. Friends are amused and envious of my legit excuse to purve at a nice male body. Doreen has offered to dangle the bunch of grapes artfully.

Not wanting to focus overly on his dangling bits, I've succeeded only in making the omission obvious!


This last sketch was fairly long pose but it's hard to get the proportions of figures lying down right. That took much of the time with no time for delicate shading.

Life Drawing with Pina

Enrolled myself in another life drawing class mainly to jumpstart my creative efforts. This one was taught my Pina who taught portrait drawing at the SCC. She asked us to try 3 techniques: continuous line which produces some funky results, block shading to get the mass in and basic shapes eg circles and ellipses to build up the figure. It has been so long since I've been tutored I'd forgotten these techniques.


Pina says that drawing is a good discipline for the artist: like Barr exercises to the ballerina. Ground work and practice. I tend to agree with her.


Love the figure; just can't work out how to turn them into sellable art works that's all. I intended to paint but couldn't get my act together in the end. These fortnightly classes are perfect for me as it affords time in between to get going on other creative ventures.

Thoughts on expressive art

At the life drawing session at Art Est I was struck by the ease with which I was able to draw 'expressively' when this evaded me with painting. I thought about it and am now convinced that time constraints and the choice of media forces one to become expressive : simplification is key. The other thing I observed is that I draw much better than I paint, familiarity with the media may account for this. And so perhaps the choice of pastels is the right one. I only gave it up because of the expense in framing pictures.


Here are a few sketches of the model Rose who is from Luxembourg. Rose has a lovely rounded figure and expressive hands.

Life drawing with ink

Over the weekend I attended the sketch club at ArtEst. The model was a man, which was an exception and rather refreshing. I decided to attempt these sessions with ink. At first I used charcoal to outline then a confident brush strokes. Erasing the charcoal left marks.


So I decided to go without the charcoal. Maybe because it was the last session and I was warmed up, the result was better.


An opportunity to sketch Sarina came up in the week. She lives in a house right on the waterfront in the eastern suburbs. What a view! The waves lapped gently and there were boats on the water. She certainly lives well. Anyway we had a lovely time although my sketches were, I thought, mediocre. The best one is this 3 min sketch with loose lines.


I believe that the best sketches in ink are the ones done quickly. The lines are looser and impressionistic. Longer poses end up over worked.

Serena

For those who practice life drawing Serena would be a familiar face. She is brunette with masses of curly hair. Has a porcelain complexion and a gently curvaceous figure. Serena was the model this month at Art Est.


I also took my friend V who gamely came to see what it's all about. V found it a struggle sometimes and she probably would be better in an instructed environment. Hope I haven't turned her off altogether!

Joanna again

At the sketch club on Sunday Joanna was the model again. She is as gorgeous as ever, and has these curves, very feminine. What I adore is her rounded belly and breasts. She looks like what a woman should look; not thin and anorexic.


I made a few sketches on coloured paper, with some pastels.


Look at how graceful she looks. I would love to paint Joanna.

Belinda

Our model for the sketch club this month was Belinda, we had her before. She works in industrial abseiling and has powerful shoulders and arms. Sarah agreed to try longer poses : this is to help us paint. I found it difficult to draw Belinda. Because she is so muscular I kept drawing her like a man but she is obviously feminine. This last pose was more successful than the others in capturing her, mainly because it does not highlight her muscles.

Acrylic painting revisited

After spending most of this year using pastels or charcoal I was led by chance to reexamine paints. In my first post I attended a painting course to learn how to paint figures. Since then I have hardly painted because it is not a medium that took kindly to interruptions... With a young family interruptions are constant and results in either dried paints on palette or tantrums by various members of family (including husband)! I wanted to convert the charcoal drawing I did of Joanne to painting but without a reference photo or life model, I was forced to adopt a semi abstract style that would hide the lack of detail. I had always admired the style of painting where bold strokes are used, with the result that finer details are unnecessary. Of course a few highlights or reflections are added to give the impression that some care has been taken. Here is my attempt with this style.





I was pretty pleased with the results. Which is now leading me to experiment with a few other styles that I found in a figure painting workbook.

Joanne

Joanne was the model at our monthly sketch club. I had not attended the last one due to the school holidays. She was a treat! Gently voluptuous, she assumed some very beautiful poses. I loved the way her tummy was rounded like a real woman. Some models are too thin.


The other thing I noticed about models and humans in general, is that we all have a favoured position. Some like to hold their own hands, many pose modestly, minimizing the exposure of their private parts, and others are totally uninhibited. Joanne's poses were naturally artistic.


Since I hadn't done art for a while I was slow with the shorter poses. But with the longer poses I even found time to incorporate colour.

Sketch club at Art Est June 2009

I managed to get my friend Fiona to come to the sketch club at Art Est this month and we both left our respective spouses in charge of the children. It was very good to get away from it all! This month, our model was Jen who is about to return to Canada. She is slim and tall, her ankles and wrist look like they could break! She has a dancer's body, with strong muscles despite her slimness.

I wanted very much to produce some pastels this session and knowing how impossible it is to complete anything in the short time a typical pose lasts, I brought some A4 paper. These two were 10 min poses.

I took the opportunity to make a more complete drawing in the following 20 min poses.

This last one is rather difficult because the background wash was so dark. I had to erase the dark bits out rather than lay it on. A reversal of techniques.

Sunday Life Drawing Sketch Club

I was invited last year to attend a monthly sketch club but did not attend as I was already doing another course. This term I am not doing any art courses and decided to give this a go. A Sketch Club is quite different in that there is no tuition and therefore little opportunity to compare what other people have done. Our model worked for BridgeClimb and has broad strong shoulders as a result. I noticed that models have a preferred pose, and this one liked to point her arm up. It must be difficult to hold, especially for the longer poses!

Here are a few sketches I did.