2nd entry for June 28, 2012

(First, a digression on new figure drawing opportunities here in Toronto.) These days, figure drawing is blossoming in all sorts of different directions.  For those of you who want your drawing session with a dash of hipster,  the Drake Hotel is now offering a free figure drawing class on Tuesday evenings.  Called "Life-Like Drawing", it runs at 5 p.m. for an undisclosed length of time up on the Sky Tent outdoor deck at the Drake. 
There are instructors on hand, and their promo material says to bring a pencil and sketchbook, so big paper and messy materials might not be as welcome.  Free is free and hard to argue with, and it might be a nice entry point if you've never tried life drawing before.  Life drawing session completists may want to add this to their collection of places they've drawn. I fear there will be a fair number of self-congratulatory people present delighted by the utter amazingness of their just being there, but if that's the case, you can blot them out with drinks from the "Lemonade Stand cocktail bar".

 .. but then again, for the cost of one or two sips from the Lemonade Stand, you could go to room 617 at OCAD U at 6 p.m., and go to their Tuesday open drawing session - $10 for students, $15 for others. No instruction, but S-   (and maybe a guest now and then) deliver really challenging gesture and extended poses for four hours.  S-  's sessions run through August.
Also, come August, I'll be hosting a special Saturday afternoon all-gesture pose session at the TSA, from 1:30 to 4:30
If anyone goes to the Drake session, please let me know how it is - I teach that night, so I can't sample it first-hand.


Okay, enough digression. The studies posted here are, from the top, a 10-minute, three 15-minute and a 20-minute study of K-   .  The top three are on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper, while the lower two are on 23 x 34" sheets of Durotone Extra White paper. They are all done with hard Nobel charcoal. I was continuing to be a little looser, up 'til the last bit of the session, when I was trying to control things more. The second study from the bottom has an awkward face, but has a freedom of handling on the better-than-newsprint quality Durotone paper that I am aiming towards.