2nd Entry for May 5, 2011

In my younger days, i used to often crawl on the floor doing large drawings, an sit cross-legged on the floor at drawing sessions when all the seats were full. Thursday at the TSA was super-full, so I set myself on the floor, and was disturbed to find I could not comfortably sit cross-legged ; some of my ligaments had become too tight for that. So these two 15-minute studies were done while shifting awkwardly through a variety of sitting poses, with the drawing board in my almost-lap.

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 May 14, 2009

My arriving late also meant I wasn't in my accustomed place. I was wondering as I worked that perhaps the responses I have built up in drawing these ultra-short poses were perhaps dependent on very controlled conditions. I think that is likely part true; the most information can be set down when everything is in its most familiar configuration. But some of that carries over into any drawing I do, I believe.

After a long break, P- did a series of 5 and 10-minute poses on a combination of hoop and trapeze. As before when this has been used, I liked the mix of round and straight-line elements framing the figure. Towards the evening's end I was finding my bearings, but it wasn't a banner drawing night. Ah, well....

2nd entry for March 3, 2009

The evening took an unanticipated turn when it became apparent that P- had come in to model as well, owing to some crossed wires. Happily, she and H- are well-acquainted with each other, and there were enough people to afford to keep both models on for the night.

Budget considerations make it impracticable to do that often, but it is a really enjoyable challenge drawing 2 people. It helped that H- , who self-identifies as "having no physical boundaries at all" was very at ease with the situation. What could have been an uncomfortable scene got very cozy: H- & P- were quietly chatting to each other as they sat, and we all wrestled with getting twice the forms in place.

I've drawn 2 sitters on other occasions where they were not at ease with each other & had the sense of `two solitudes' sharing a space, conveying an Ingmar Bergman-esque mood. Even though they weren't always fully interacting, there was a good dynamic going, with H- particularily conscious of how her poses were fitting with P- 's.

There were some good dualities going on - lean & full-figure, short & tall, that added to the interplay.

These were 10-minute studies. Trying to set all this down sure kicked up the intensity of my focus in what was looking like a fairly familiar drawing situation.

1st Entry for December 3, 2008

On the wednesday evening, my class was over, and I had the opportunity to go to Nikki Abraham's Vita Brevis studio. I really like the light there, but on that night I arrived a little too late to get a place very far from the model. This was tricky, as A- , who was working, was a very tall person, making it challenging to fit her on the page.

I was sitting about 2 1/2 metres from her. Four to five metres distance find is optimal. These were some 1- and 2-minute poses.