1st entry for February 21, 2010

The Sunday night was an upsy-downsy one for me as far as drawing went. I got there late, feeling fairly tired after spending five busy and very productive hours at a Mercer Union hosted mega clothing swap.
J- was there, and his work was really good, as always. My work alternated between good and awful (in my estimation). This sheet of 1-minute gesture studies and the two 10-minute studies were some of the good ones.
The head in the upright sitting pose is, in my estimation, a particularly successful effort at setting down his face and expression. As such, it was the only face that worked out for me.

3rd entry for February 19, 2010

These were two 15-minute poses and a 20-minute standing pose that ended the night.

2nd entry for February 19, 2010

These poses that L- too were all in the 10-minute range. I worked a bit longer on the background of the seated back view while we took a break.

1st entry for February 19, 2010

On Friday night I was back drawing at the TSA. L- was working, and I hadn't drawn her before.
These are 5-minute studies.

3rd entry for February 18, 2010

These are three 15-minute poses and a 20-minute reclining pose that finished off the evening. I have mixed success getting a likeness of G- , but I felt that I was quire successful in the reclining study.

3rd entry for February 18, 2010

These are all 10-minute studies.

2nd entry for February 18, 2010

These were 5-minute poses that G- took.

1st entry for February 18, 2010

G- was working on the Thursday night. Her gesture poses were quite dramatic, as usual. These are all 1-minute studies.

4th entry for February 16, 2010

These three poses - two 10-minute ones and then 5-minutes closed off that night's drawing.

1st entry for February 16, 2010

One by one, these images aren't being posted in the exact sequence the poses were done, but they are very close.
We started into 5-minute poses just before taking a break, and after switching to a set of very nicely draped silks. J- continuesd with more 5-minute poses. Some yoga experience is evident (in my estimation) in the stamina and flexibility in sustaining headstands and back bends for long stretches of time like this.

J- 's expression in the middle image is far too grim-looking. She had more of a relaxed smile at the time. But with studies like this, there can only be a minute or so alotted to setting down a face. Any more, and there's no time left for the rest of the pose. Which means that if I miss the likeness, it is smarter to live with it and keep going.

3rd entry for February 16, 2010

These were also 3-minute poses.

3rd entry for February 16, 2010

These poses are all either 2-minute or 3-minute ones.

2nd entry for February 16, 2010

These were all poses that J - held in the 1- to 2- minute range. The studio is in a storefront space, and the tableau of the topmost pose elicited a cheer from a coupke passing by. I keep my back to the windowed side (the space we use begins about 4 metres back within the space), so I can't say definitively, but it seems that very few people seem to stop to watch what's going on.

1st entry for February 16, 2010

On Tuesday I was beginning to get over my fierce cold, and went over to my usual stop at Diane McGrath's Drawing Room session (which is open for any one to join in).
For the first half, Diane was exploring the notion that two hoops might be better than one, and J- was the aerialist of the night testing that hypothesis.

There are two principal justifications in my mind for posting figure studies. The first and main one is the feeling or sensitivity of the drawing itself (or some other element of interest, like experimentation in composition or materials.) The other is when the action being performed is noteworthy and I want to share the record of that. Once in a while these all overlap in the same study, which is especially pleasing for me.

These are all in the 1-minute range. They are rather raw as studies, but begin to give a sense of what J- was doing.