2nd entry for June 26, 2009

These were all in the 15-minute range. The lower 2 heads were near-misses; nice looking heads, but imperfect likenesses. The back view was quite sensitive (and has a particularly good head of hair). It was only on the last study that I closed in on a more spot-on, find-her -in-the-airport-crowd, I.D.-in-the-police-lineup kind of likeness.

1st entry for June 26th, 2009

After a teacher's meeting on the Friday, I stayed on to do some drawing at the TSA. G- was working. She is someone else I endeavour to get a likeness of as much as possible. Her facial features seem to me to be very clearly defined, so whenever she faces my direction, I focus in on her head.
in other words, it was mostly a "head and shoulders" night for me. When her head was facing away, that's when I would get more of her body set down.
Partly in response to some discussions I've had with Z- lately, my concern in drawing the last couple of times has been to push the sensitivity and tactility of the drawings. Some succeed more than others. My chest flu bug seemed to be resurging a bit that night, and that was playing out as more irregular drawing: some good, some off.

The standing pose was 3 minutes, the head study 5 minutes and the back study 10 minutes respectively.

2nd Entry for June 23, 2009

These were all 20-minute poses. I am particularly happy with the image of S- leaning back. It also has the best likeness of her of any of my night's studies.

1st Entry for June 23, 2009

It has been a while since I have drawn S- , and as always it was a pleasure. She was working at Artists 25, and it was the first time I was able to go drawing following a week marked by a nasty respiratory virus and my sister's wedding. talk about highs and lows...
S- has had some health challenges, but for me the vulnerability I saw around her edges just added to her beauty. I struggled much of the night with doing justice to her likeness, as usual.

6th entry for June 14th

These 15-minute poses finished up that evening.

5th entry for June 14, 2009

These were 10 minutes as well. The evening before this session I was watching Z- and a number of her compatriots in an Tribal Fusion bellydance recital, called "This Ain't Egypt". After that very enjoyable time watching various bellies in action, I found that I was particularly conscious of D- 's navel and abdomen while drawing.

4th entry for June 14, 2009

These were all 10-minute poses.
Usually I am fairly conscious of where I am situating the figure on the page. For some reason I had a brain cramp when drawing D- 's seated pose & put her on the far left, which meant her head was butting up against the page edge and her leg is running out of frame (there is actually even more space on the right that I've cropped out). in a way I kind off like the irregularity of the placement of this one.

3rd entry for June 14, 2009

These were 5-minute poses.

2nd entry for June 14, 2009

These were all 2-minute poses. D- is a very limber individual. I glanced over at the person drawing beside me, who was really exaggerating the angles and length of limbs & neck, etc. I would have thought that it would have looked too extreme, given how much torque goes into these poses already, but it was working in his sketches. The extremity of her stretches made the exaggeration seem like a logical extension, rather than an imposition on her figure.

1st entry for June 14, 2009

On the Sunday night, D came in to fill in for another model. She is a very dynamic model, and these were 3 of the 1-minute poses she took that night.

5th entry for June 12, 2009

This standing pose of 10 minutes and the 20-minute reclining pose finished off the Friday evening.

4th entry for June 12, 2009

These were two 15-minute poses.

3rd Entry for June 12, 2009

These were 10-minute poses. C- can really twist herself, and on one of her poses, the best thing seemed to be to focus in on her interlaced limbs.

2nd Entry for June 12, 2009

These were all in the 10-minute range.

1st entry for June 12th, 2009

On Friday, C- was working at the TSA. In her short poses - these were 5 minutes each - she puts a lot of twisting and bending into her poses. The uppermost study was brief, and very loose, but I feel it conveys a good sense of the sinuous character of the pose.

Entry for June 11, 2009

On Thursday I was at the TSA attending a small exhibit at the school's "Launch Projects" gallery, where I had a work on display. Afterwards, I went up to join the last part of the Thursday drawing session. D- was working, which was nice to see.
These are one 10-minute pose and two 15-minute sitting poses.

Entry for June 9, 2009

As well as the Circus Jams in Kensington, Tuesday nights alternate with a drumming circle in Trinity-Bellwoods park. Z- and I went there for the first time last Tuesday.
It was a fascinating scene. Vibrant polyrythmic drumming by a constantly shifting group of drummers. People coming and going - it was a tribal gathering of musicians and all sorts of alternative groups - Burning Man fans, hippie kids, goth kids, hipsters, circus folk, you name it. All swaying to a sinuous ever-shifting beat.

I can say this - drummers stay put better than hoopers and fire spinners. They do walk about a bit, but were congregating and so tended not to move too much. It makes sense- as a performer doing things with a hoop or swinging poi, etc- it would be dull to see someone planted in one place. Their choreography is part of their art, the art of being a visual spetacle. Musicians in this sort of setting are first and foremost about the sonic experience.

I found I was getting more relaxed, too, about setting down fast, loose stream-of-consciousness sketches. These ballpoint pen drawings all came from there, and are done on an 8 1/2 x 11 pad of drawing paper with a medium-point black ballpoint pen.

We didn't stay a long time, but it is a place I can see returning to.