Life Drawing: 'Raven III" (Pastel on Paper, 18" x 24")

Today's model, a former dancer, had an amazing ability to create (and hold!) wonderful poses. I was pretty excited about how the final drawing turned out.

For the 30 minute pose above, I used an old piece of Wallis sanded paper (from an older pastel drawing that I washed off with turpenoid, leaving a streaky toned surface in a blue/burnt sienna palette. I just went with those colors. The composition worked out nicely, too:)

And, here are a few of the shorter poses leading up to it (working large, on oversized kraft paper):

"Stone Barns at Blue Hill": Plein Air Oil Study

A local group meets to paint 'en plein air', with painting instructor Andrew Lattimore in Westchester, NY. Today, I joined them at Stone Barns.

It's a challenge to finish a painting on location in a few hours, before the light changes. I'm new to this, and tried an underpainting technique explained on artist Jennifer McChristian's blog. She makes it look easy:)

I made lots of rookie mistakes, and ended up wiping down the canvas, but hope to try again. Here are some progress photos:

Life drawing: 'Fred'

Today, we started with short poses and graduated to longer ones.

Instructor David Fox says to start a longer pose exactly the same as a 1 minute pose. Get the gesture -- any added time is a bonus.  Here are a few of the longer poses.

Life Drawing: 'Raven II'

Some days you have it, some days you don't. Raven is a fabulous model -- these drawings, not so much. I post them to document my efforts.  Next time:)

Study: Male Model (16" x 20" Oil)

Noticed a few new nuances while painting this model today, in the reflected colors that are in the portion of the face in shadow. I think this is my best one yet.

Life Drawing: 'Raven I"

When drawing, I like the challenge of capturing the gesture/movement of the model. Here's the progression:

1- 2 minute poses: gestural and spontaneous.







10 - 15 minute pose: Not Bad ...



20 minute pose: YIKES! Completely lost it. As my Father-in-law Jerry used to say ... sometimes less is more:)