1st entry for October 11, 2009

This was the weekend of Thanksgiving in Canada.
On Sunday, family events ended up taking precedence over drawing practice. I had been looking forward to drawing Z- when she was working at the TSA, but it coincided with the only chance to see some visiting cousins from Winnipeg.
When all was said and done, I did attend an hour of the morning session. My drawing was not so strong, but I was struck at the time what a confident model Z- has become, and it was nice to see her at work.
These were a 5-minute kneeling and a 15-minute reclining pose.

I like the slightly nebulous quality of the kneeling study. I notice that in classes I teach I have been talking a bit about `open-ended' drawings vs `closed' drawing approaches, and the kneeling study is definitely an open-ended image - many changes or alterations could be done to it without them seeming like intrusions on what is already set down in the drawing. That is useful because most of us do not set every mark in just the right spot on the first try.

A David Hockney pen drawing or a Picasso etching are more `closed' - they succceed because each mark is committed to at the outset, but a false or awkward mark would compromise their clarity, and could not be remved or hidden without spoiling the clean-ness of the piece.

The others from the morning weren't strong enough to warrant documenting.

1st entry for September 22, 2009

Owing to more bad time-management, I missed the first 25 minutes of the Tuesday night session at Artists 25. It was a very humid day, which meant my paper was softer than usual, and it wasn't adding to my joy.
The model, S- , was another person I had not drawn before. These are 2 10-minute poses she took. The drawings are a little rusty, having missed out on warming up properly.

Entry for August 9, 2009

I didn't have much opportunity to go drawing on the Sunday, so I dragged myself out if bed early to do a bit of work at the TSA. These studies of D- were all done in the 10-minute range. Nothing else from the 2 hours I was there was worth posting.

Some images I am happier with are up at the Propeller Gallery, in their "Go Figure" show, which opens tomorrow, August 20th. For more info on their show, check here

3rd Entry for July 7, 2009

All three of these were 15-minute poses, and they closed off the evening. I was trying to be conscious of putting more heart - more depth of connection - into the drawing. Results varied. The leg in the sitting pose facing away from me lacks a shadow, and seems to be floating awkward and unplanted in space. Same with the outstretched leg in G- 's reclining pose. I rushed through it and it seems stiff and disconnected to the space. She looked far more comfortable than that.

I'm sure any of you readers in Toronto on the 20th would have much better results if you attended her modelling fundraiser that day.

1st entry for May 8, 2009

G- was working on the Friday, but I was only able to get there for the last hour of the evening. Time for 3 studies- these two were okay; the other one was too weak to post. These each ran for 20 minutes.

1st entry for March 13, 2009

G- was working on Friday. I paid the price for missing her short poses- a lot of awkward, fussy starts. These 10-minute studies worked fairly well. The head studies are look good, but they are not spot-on likenesses.

2nd entry for March 5, 2009

Not only did I arrive late that night, but I was to meet Z- later, so I had to slip out during the last break. regrettably the timing of breaks means there was no way to discreetly leave except40 minutes before the end. It would have been nice to have done the additional drawing, but there is life outside of life drawing, too. By my estimation, half the sesssion beats no session at alll, and I really enjoyed the time I was there.

These were 15-minute poses.

1st entry for March 1, 2009

I got myself out of bed early enough to come out to part of the Sunday morning session at the TSA, and found T- working. I haven't had the opportunity to draw her for some time.
The bottom-most image was 10 minutes, and the first one done. Without warmup drawing time it is wooden & laboured, especially where I started, at T- 's face. the reclining pose was 15 minutes long & was 2 studies later. It came together the best of the morning, and is at once more controlled and more spontaneous. (that was when the drawing fully `clicked in'). The topmost one was almost 15 minutes. It is looser - a lot of forms are on the edge of falling apart, but it is the freshest one as well. Although the drawing was fast, I feel that the head on this one is quite true to T- 's features.
The only problem with the top image is that T- 's torso seems impossibly narrow: there should be a bit more body mass visible past the arm on the right.

After that, the session was over.