1st entry for Feb 26, 2012

On the Sunday afternoon, I got in for some drawing as well. B-  was working.  He is a really strong model. His repertoire of favoured poses is fairly fixed, and I've drawn him enough times that they are all familiar territory.
The good side of that is that it encourages trying something different, if I don't want to repeat existing
drawings I've done. (Not that that's the worst thing - One never stepping in the same stream, and all...)
With my aim to be bolder, I was continuing the more close-up cropping. Not having the whole figure in view made keeping proportions in line more challenging, but I wasn't too worried about that.
The top study is roughly 12 minutes; the next two are 20 minutes each, and all of the top three are on sheets of 90 lb Maidstone. The top two are on 20 x 26" sheets, the third is on a 22 x 30" sheet.
The lowest one was 15 minutes, and is on an 18 x 24" sheet of Canson Sketch paper.
All are done with hard U-Art charcoal.

2nd entry for Feb 24, 2012

These are two 20-minute studies above, done on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.
The lower one was a final 15-minute pose, and is on a 20 x 26"sheet of the same paper. All were done with a mix of U-Art and Nobel hard compressed charcoals.

It's tricky, because for this paper, the Nobel is a bit too hard, and the other a bit too soft. but between them lies the best texture I've found for myself. The lower two were mostly drawn with the harder charcoal, which affords a smoother texture, and then the darkest values intensified with the softer material. Switching to and fro slows things down, though, and necessitates drawing fast just to keep up.

That does add an element of urgency to the process, which can translate into lively marks. Most of the drawing resources I have stop at 20 minutes, but I'm finding a little more gives some desired wiggle room. There are very long poses, and somehow it is hard to keep the drawing to a 25-minute or 30-minute timeframe within that. Maybe I need my own timer for those...

C-  has an impressive mass of curly `bed-head' hair, and an interesting face to draw. I find that his hair can be so attention-getting and time-consuming that this session I opted to have much of it out of the frame, to put the focus more on his head and body. I was also consciously opting for more cropped figures, to bring him a little closer to the viewer and have him fill more of the picture field.

1st entry for Feb 24, 2012

 

On the Friday night I made it out for a portion of the TSA session, where C-   was working. I've drawn him a few times recently, enough so that his poses were becoming familiar territory.
Z-  has been on my case for a while for being a little too predictable and holding back within my drawing, feeling a lot of the images that I am making are a bit too safe/conventional in their full-figure composition and handling.
I can partially concur; by and large I have put composition to the side in favour of refining mark-making texture and sensitivity of bodily description. I had made a personal decision that once I had hit my 5K drawing mark, I'd put the pictorial aspect more in the forefront. The informal mantra is to be "no boring drawings" for the next while.
In open life sessions, I don't have control of the poses people assume, so that is a factor to respond to. I do have control over the mark-making, the composition, the energy put into the work, and the value range. Also, the negative spaces can be handled however I wish, but time constraints enter into some of these short studies, when it comes to incorporating a background. I can edit, too; not every study is as lively, so I can share the ones I like most, rather than the majority of them from a given session.

The top study here is a 10-minute one, done on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch with hard compressed U-Art charcoal. I was opting for a more close-up cropping of C-   .The lower one is done with a combo of hard U-Art and Nobel compressed charcoals, on a 20 x 26" sheet of 90 lb Maidstone paper. I was going for a bolder, direct handling.

2nd entry for Feb 23, 2012

These studies of Z-  were all in the 15-  to 20-minute range. They are done with hard U-Art charcoal on 20 x 26" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.
With these, this blog marks - and passes - its 5000th image posted. Which feels like the close of a bit of a chapter of a particular fixation on technical development and documentation.
From here, I may not post quite so much, and my present mission is to add to the interest of the content - to get more bold and playful, and explore some livelier and less traditional/conventional figure studies
For that, time will tell.

1st entry for Feb 23, 2012

As I have been observing, I'm fast coming up on 5000 images posted on this blog, a process that began roughly three years ago.
My sweetheart Z-  has now been working as a model for four years, so this week marks a milestone for each of us. She generously did some work on the Thursday at my studio, as my 5K muse.
These are some 1.5-minute gestures, done with medium Nobel compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.  Her gestures were very dynamic, as always.
These take us to number 4999...

2nd entry for Feb 21, 2012

 These are three 20-minute studies above, all done with hard U-Art charcoal on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.

(By my calculation, these studies of D-  take me to 4,995 images posted on this blog.)

1st entry for Feb 21, 2012

On the Tuesday I made it to Artists 25. D-  was working there.  Above is a 5-minute study done with hard U-Art charcoal on 18 x 24" bond paper.
Below are two 10-minute studies, done with medium Nobel charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.
I'm happy to note that a work of mine is in an exhibition titled "Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century", down in Astoria, Oregon. The exhibition opens tonight, Feb 23.
You can see the work online here.
I'm also happy to note that I am about ten studies away from posting this blog's 5,000th image, one which will likely be drawn later today.

3rd entry for Feb 19, 2012

These are two 20-minute studies. They are both done with hard Nobel compressed charcoal (`woodless pencils') on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.

2nd entry for Feb 19, 2012

These are both 15-minute studies,  done with hard Nobel compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.

1st entry for Feb 19, 2012

The combination of a nasty flu bug and some important family stuff meant no sketching opportunities for over a week.
 On the Sunday morning, things were settled enough that I was able to get to the TSA and work on some drawing. The model was M-  , and I hadn't worked with her before.  These are a 2-minute study at top, and two 10-minute ones below. These were all done with a #2 Koh-I-Noor Nero drawing stick on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.

5th entry for Feb 10, 2012

This is a 20-minute study, using hard Nobel compressed charcoal on a 22 x 30" sheet of 90 lb Maidstone paper. It got close to a good sense of K-    , but I feel it's still a bit on the hard-looking side to be true to her.

4th entry for Feb 10, 2012

 These are 15-minute studies, also done with a #2 Koh-I-Noor drawing stick on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.

3rd entry for Feb 10, 2012

These are a 10-minute study, a 5-minute one and a 15-minute one below. All are done with a Koh-I-Noor #2 drawing stick on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.
At the time i was working on these, i was just starting to succumb to a nasty bug that is making the rounds, and the work was going slowly.

2nd entry for Feb 10, 2012

These are two 1-minute studies, done with Koh-I-Noor Nero  #2 drawing stick on 18 x 24" Canson Sketch paper.

1st entry for Feb 10, 2012

On the Friday night, K-  was over at the TSA. These are some 1-minute studies, done with a #2 Koh-I-Noor Nero stick on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

3rd entry for Feb 7, 2012

These are two 20-minute studies, each done with hard compressed charcoal on 22 x30" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.

2nd entry for Feb 7, 2012

These are a 10-minute study above, and a 20-minute one below.  Both are done with hard compressed charcoal. The top one is on an 18 x 24" sheet of Canson Sketch paper, while the lower one is on a 22 x 30" sheet of 90 lb Maidstone paper.

1st entry for Feb 7, 2012

( Note - a drawing of mine from last year will be included soon in an international juried show down in Oregon - you can see details here. )
On the following Tuesday night I was out drawing at Artists 25.  P-    , who I have not seen around for a long rime, was working.  Above is a 5-minute study, and below a 10-minute one, both using hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper

2nd entry for Jan 31, 2012

These are 20-minute studies, done with Nobel hard compressed charcoal on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.  These images did not use mush of the full sheet, as I was fairly fixated on getting the look and character of D-  .  I chased around it without getting spot-on, I felt, but was quite close, all the same.

1st entry for Jan 31, 2012

 

On the Tuesday, D-   was working at Artists 25.  I know him quite well, and I was wrestling with getting his likeness, with varying degrees of success.
These are two 5-minute studies above, and two 10-minute ones below. All use hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Sketch paper.