3rd Entry for July 18, 2010

I went back for the evening session that night to work on some more regular studies. L- was working that night. These are three 1-minute poses and two 5-minute ones that she did.

2nd Entry for July 18, 2010

D- was working in the other studio, and these studies from two viewpoints were done over a 50-minute period - 15 minutes for the more detailed studies, 10 minutes each for the more tubular ones (which came after each of the detailed ones. They are collectively done with graphite on 24" x 36" sheet of cartridge paper.

I particularly believe that studies like this help better understand and analyse the forms of foreshortened bodies.

1st entry for July 18, 2010

It was coming up on the time to teach an intensive class called `Structural Bodies' (which just sucessfully concluded,) and I came in to warm myself up on the looking at sculptural volumes that this entails. S- was working in one studio, and this was a 2-hour study, done with graphite on 24" x 36" cartridge paper.
The legs are a little short, but it worked out quite well. I believe it is beneficial to try for this sort of cnceptualization of 3-d form on a 2-d surface every so often.

3rd Entry for July 16, 2010

These 15-minure poses finished my evening.

2nd Entry for July 16, 2010

These are 5-minute and 10-minute poses that S- did.

1st entry for July 16, 2010

Almost two weeks elapsed since the last time I had headed out for some sketching. This was due to getting ready and carrying out a showing at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.
The showing went well, but after that long I was feeling a little rusty. These were some 1-minute and two 5-minute poses that S- did that evening.

3rd Entry for July 4, 2010

These three 15-minute poses rounde out the evening.

2nd Entry for July 4, 2010

These are a couple of 10-minute poses, and a sheet of 1-minute poses that J- did. Like any of the other images not otherwise indicated, these are all done with HB Conte crayon on 24' x 36" sheets of newsprint.

(Many of these images - like the head study - were done on a large sheet, but a lot of open space has been cropped away.)

1st entry for July 4, 2010

On Sunday, J- came and worked at the TSA. These were some 1-minute poses and a 10-minute pose that she did.

3rd Entry for July 2, 2010

These 20-minute poses ended the night.

2nd Entry for July 2, 2010

These were 15-minute poses that G- took.

.. and next week, July 26-28, my "Structural Bodies" workshop will be happening at the TSA, and there is still room for a couple of people. You can get registration info here.

1st entry for July 2, 2010

Top to bottom, these are a 1-minute, a 5-minute and a 10-minute pose that G- did. I'm quite happy with the energy of the 5-minute pose in particular.

Have I mentioned my upcoming `Structural Bodies' workshop? It will happen over 3 days, July 26 - 28. For registration info and details, you can reach the Toronto School of Art here.

Entry for June 29, 2010

The evening of June 29 saw two coinciding events: grad ceremonies at a school I teach a class at, and the final spring session of Diane Mcgrath's Drawing Room. I felt compelled t attend the grad, which was enjoyable to see, and got back into the west end with just enough time to do one 15-minute study of Z- , who I hadn't drawn before.

A grasp of sculptural volumes in space and how to convey them is an underpinning of studies like these.

From July 26 - 28 there is a once-a-year opportunity to spend 3 days focusing in on those sculptural aspects of drawing bodies in space, at a workshop I am teaching at the TSA called "Structural Bodies".

From 9 a.m to 4 p.m on each of those days, medium to long poses will supply the opportunity to analyse the figure as volumes in space, and to interpret that using blocks, tubes, ovoids and such, and through cross-contour marks/cross-sections. The thinking that goes into that is a component of drawing foreshortened poses like the reclining ones of Z- here.

For other examples of the kind of studies we'll be doing, click on the tag below for "structural drawing:. To contact the TSA to register, you can get details and contact info here.

3rd Entry for June 27, 2010

Once again after our break I tried doing a set of 1-minute gesture sketches to fit random intervals I had already set down on the page, as a drawing challenge. Following that below are two 15-minute poses.
While three of us were drawing those, Mark was getting more worried as he got updates on people surrounded at the corner of Queen and Spadina being held in the rain - a fairly heavy rain that had diminshed the number of whistles we were hearing from outside.

In spite of the genuinely troubling events, Z- was working hard to keep the mood productive & focused where we were, doing some good poses, and trying not to stoke the fires of anxiety.

The lowest study was a half-hour one that wrapped up the evening. I had located some lost-and-found umbrellas, and the remaining drawers and Z- headed due west to Bathurst without pause, feeling safer as we left the hot spot behind. We wished each other well when Z and I reached my studio, and Mark and one other drawer headed off. Transit was running again, which was good.
It was definitely a time unlike most I've ever experienced, when just walking downtown felt like it could possibly land you in jail or see you held for hours. Not a good feeling.

...That time has now passed, and things are calmer. No threats on July 26-28th, but there is a once-a-year opportunity to spend 3 days focusing in on the sculptural aspects of drawing bodies in space, at a workshop I am teaching at the TSA called "Structural Bodies".

From 9 a.m to 4 p.m on each of those days, medium to long poses will supply the opportunity to analyse the figure as volumes in space, and to interpret that using blocks, tubes, ovoids and such, and through cross-contour marks/cross-sections. The thinking that goes into that is a component of drawing foreshortened poses like the reclining ones of Z- here.

For other examples of the kind of studies we'll be doing, click on the tag below for "structural drawing:. To contact the TSA to register, you can get details and contact info here.

2nd Entry for June 27, 2010

The lowest image is 5 minutes; the other four were 10-minute pose. Z- was doing really good work. From my end my focus was a little distracted by the actions outside, and wondering if at some point some police person would turn up at the studio door, checking to see who we were & what we were up to.
Mark was getting phone reports from his partner about the situation unfolding at Queen and Spadina, where over a hundred people had been corralled by police. All the while the whistles/helicopters continued outside.

1st entry for June 27, 2010

The Sunday night of the 27th was an extraordinary drawing session.

The Talking Heads have a song titled "Life During Wartime", and the evening was reminiscent of that.

In Toronto, it was the weekend of the G20 summit. Because of that, the majority of TSA's drawing sessions were cancelled for the weekend. Mark, who organises the Sunday night drawing session reckoned that by 6 pm on Sunday the action would have passed, and decided to take the chance. He arranged for Z- to work, as he wanted an `unflappable' model, just in case.

Come Sunday evening, the downtown was still under very heavy police presence, and the intersection of Queen and Spadina had ended up as a touchstone spot for police/protest tension - only 2 blocks away from TSA. I accompanied Z- there, and walking along Richmond towards the school we realised our wardrobe choices - our usual black ensembles - might have been a tactical error when a group of guys on a patio shouted a joke about 'Black Bloc' towards us.

As it was, we shifted away from Richmond when we saw a mass of over a dozen uniformed police heading west on a path intersecting ours, as there had been reports of arrests and searches of random people throughout the day, if the police thought they looked dodgy.

Arriving to the school, the only soul was Mark, and we pondered cancelling, but a couple of other equally brave/foolhardy people found their way down, so we decided to go on with the drawing.

These were some 1-minute poses that Z- took. Imagine a big studio, with four instead of the usual 15 - 20 drawers, and a sonic backdrop of intermittent whistles and continuous helicopter sounds. It seemed a little unreal.