1st entry for February 24, 2009

F- was working at Artists 25. These are one 5-minute and two 10-minute poses he took.

4th entry for February 22, 2009

These were the last three poses that Sh- did, all in the 15- and 20-minute range.

3rd entry for February 22, 2009

These were 10-minute poses, where I was syarting to hit my stride, in terms of the drawing process.

2nd entry for February 22, 2009

These were 5-minute studies that Sh- took.

1st entry for February 22, 2009

On Sunday night, Sh- was working. I haven't drawn her in a while. These were some 2-minute poses she took.

2nd entry for February 20, 2009

These were 15- and 20- minute poses from the later part of the evening.

1st entry for February 20, 2009

It was G- 's turn to work Friday at the TSA. (I had given the Thursday drawing session a pass this week). It was another `head and shoulders' kind of start to the night. G- has quite a mobile, expressive face, and I was trying to get down some of the nuances of that.
Afterwards he observed that it had been a marathon modelling day for him, and thought I had caught a good sense of his fatigued state (not quite what I was aiming for! But then again, if that was true to him, then fair enough. Producing slickly flattering images has never been a strength for me). These were all in the 10-minute range.

I do feel that I am getting a deeper grasp of faces and expression, as time goes on.

3rd entry for February 17, 2009

These were the last two 20-minute poses from the night. The study of the seated lotus pose didn't quite do justice to L- . It is hard to sustain a head tilt backwards, and in shifting forms to the tilt I started drawing, her head looks piled up on her shoulders. Also, I notice that when drawing L- 's face, I tend to exaggerate a downturn to her mouth which makes her look a little dour. She's actually someone with a fairly bright disposition. This pose in particular - while she was in it, she had the relaxed, meditative version of a smile, but all that comes through here is how gravity has pulled the corners of her mouth down.

2nd entry for February 17, 2009

These were the first two of four 20-minute poses L- took.

1st entry for February 17, 2009

L- was working at Artists 25. These were two 10-minute poses she took. The sitting pose was the first study of the night for me, and you can see a lot of loose, searching gestural lines, and some awkward proportions, as I was feeling my way into my drawing headspace. When that headspace clicks in, much of that is not necessary. When it comes to searching out forms I'm not sure of setting down, the example given in Nicoloaides' book of Honore Daumier - who builds up images from very light sketchy marks - has resonated with me from a long time back up til now.

3rd entry for February 15, 2009

The evening wrapped up with these 15-minute poses. E- has remarked on one prior occasion that part of her choice to try art modelling was to come to terms with her own sense of body image.

I thought that was quite brave of her, given the societal bias that is often levied against fuller-figured people (a double-whammy being an older person as well.) As an artist, I welcome the opportunity to draw bodies across a broad spectrum, and E- as a model provides us with lots of interesting shapes to draw. I'm glad that she took that chance.

2nd entry for February 15, 2009

These were 3 10-minute poses.

1st entry for February 15, 2009

On Sunday E- was working at the TSA - she is more mature in years and fuller-figured. I have drawn her a couple of times at Artists 25, and like the fact that her skin & body forms show evidence of a life lived. More lines & edges to fasten onto. These were some 1-minute poses she took.
Her poses have a directness and matter-of-factness about them, which I liked as well.

7th entry for February 12, 2009

The session closed off with these two 10-minute poses.

6th entry for February 12, 2009

After the 3-minute poses came a few 5-minute poses on the hoop

5th entry for February 12, 2009

A- did a couple of final 3-minute poses on the trapeze & took a break, while Diane hooked up the big hoop. After the rest, we resumed with 2 more 3-minute poses on the hoop. What's tricky about drawing someone on a hoop like this is that you have to get their limbs on the right points of the circle, or things won't fit properly. As it is, the hanging arm in the one study looks a little dislocated: it's not properly articulated visually with the torso above it.