1st entry for June 20, 2011

On the Monday night I got out to the east end. A-   was working at the Ralph Thornton Centre session. These are 1-minute studies. I cannot overstate how valuable I feel this sort of loose, gestural study is,  both for freedom of mark-making and for looseness of handling, which benefits long studies as well.

All of these are done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.

2nd Entry for Apr 7, 2011

(People looking for life drawing instruction - or basic perspective instruction - should take note that I have an intermediate/advanced life drawing class on Wednesday evenings starting in a few days at the TSA, and a perspective basics class on Tuesday mornings. Both run for 10 weeks, and you can get more info through the TSA website. There is still space for any interested students, and all ages of adults are welcome - but act fast - the window of opportunity is drawing to a close...)

Above are two sheets with 5-minute studies, and below are two 10-minute studies. All are done with 9B graphite on 18 x 24 cartridge paper sheets.

1st entry for Apr 4, 2011

 (People looking for life drawing instruction - or basic perspective instruction - should take note that I have an intermediate/advanced life drawing class on Wednesday evenings starting in a few days at the TSA, and a perspective basics class on Tuesday mornings. Both run for 10 weeks, and you can get more info through the TSA website. There is still space for any interested students, and all ages of adults are welcome.)


On the Monday night I was over at the east-end Ralph Thornton Centre.   M-   was working. For the start of the session I retreated to what is now my `comfort zone' of 9B graphite on cartridge paper. These are two 10-minute studies above, and a 15-minute one below.

2nd Entry for Feb 22, 2011

In order from the top, these are two 5-minute studies, then two 10-minute studies of A - and H-  .
Graphically, I like the 2nd one down, where H-  's image is lighter in the background. It was a happy accident - I ran out of time to set her down any more than that.

These are shown in the order they were drawn, and you can see how I got more connected to the drawing as each pose they did progressed.

All of these are 8B graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

2nd Entry for Jan. 27, 2011

From the top, these are a 10-minute, a 15-minute and a 20-minute study. The top two are on cartridge paper, and the lowest one is on Japanese paper. I had fairly good luck that night, I felt, getting the lok of A-   .
All are done with soft (8B or 9B) graphite, and all are about 18 x 24".

2nd Entry for Jan. 25, 2011

These are two 5-minute studies above, and two 10-minute ones below.  All are soft graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

2nd Entry for Jan. 9, 2011

Above is a 20-minute study, and below a 10-minute one, that finished off the morning's drawing.
Both of these are graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

1st entry for Jan 6, 2011

I was contending with a nasty cold bug, that kept me at home for two or three days, and pre-empted any life sketching.  on the Thursday, I felt ready to give it a try.
M-  was working, and his poses were as dramatic as always.  These are some 1-minute studies,soft graphite stick on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

3rd Entry for Dec 10, 2010

These are 10-minute studies of L-    , all done with prismacolor art stick on 20 x 30" sheets of cartridge paper.

4th Entry for Nov. 29, 2010

Above are 5-minute studies, and the lowest one was a 10 or a 15-minute pose. These are done with Prismacolor art stick on cartridge paper.

5th Entry for Nov. 28, 2010

These longer poses finished the evening.  The upper two are done with Prismacolor art stick on 20 x 30" sheets of cartridge paper, while the lower two are done with graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper.

3rd Entry for Nov. 25, 2010

 

These are 15-minute studies. The top two are the Prismacolor art stick on 20 x 30" cartridge, the next two are 8B graphite on 18 x 24" Japanese papers, and the bottom one is an aquarelle graphite stick on 20 x 20"  cartridge paper.
The Prismacolour stick is interesting - it feels and handles almost like a litho crayon, and has a rich, deep value range. The dark values on it do tend to blow the graphite out of the water, though the graphite is more amenable to subtle handling. Neither feels quite as at home in my hand as a piece of Conte crayon, but I'm liking some of what they produce.

2nd Entry for Nov. 25, 2010

 

 

Above are two 5-minute studies; below are three 10-minute ones. They are all on 20 x 30" cartridge paper, but this time drawn with a black Prismacolor art stick.

I'm interested in the more intense black it imparts, relative to graphite, on the cartridge paper surface.

2nd Entry for Nov. 23, 2010

The topmost image is a 10-minute study on 20 x 30" cartridge paper. Below are two 20-minute ones on 18 x 24" Japanese paper, and the lowest is a 10-minute one done on the larger cartridge paper.
All are done with 8B graphite. 
The ones on Japanese paper are working better, but there is a quality of informality and spontaneity - a generosity of markmaking - on the cartridge paper I'd like to get onto the better paper.