3rd entry for Aug 17, 2015

At top are three 5-minute studies followed by a 10-minute one. Following a longer break there were a few more 2-minute poses, and a 5-minute one at the the bottom. All are Pitt pen on 18 x 18" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
I quite like the partial sitting study of Paul third from the bottom - it just kind of popped out as a 2-minute study where I ran out of time. All the same there's something very right about the face, I feel - and also not laboured..

Entry for July 11, 2015

On the Saturday afternoon after class, I went over to Artists 25, and found Paris working there. this is a 2-hour study with some ongoing reworking of the too-busy and brushy) background.
It's Chinese ink and oil-based pencil on 18 x 24" Strathmore cold-press Series 300 watercolour paper, which has a distinct pattern pressed into it, like that of a paper towel or Canson Mi-Tientes, which shows a lot in areas that have shading in pencil.
It's not my best work, but holds together slightly better, I feel, than the similarly timed image of Phlip from the week before.

5th entry for July 5, 2015

Following their long break, the second half was this long pose, for roughly 2 hours. At the time I was thinking that it was a sort of complement to Victoria's long pose.

I like foreshortening, but in finagling Phlip's forms to the size and place I wanted it to be sitting on the page, I over-estimated the size of his head, and slightly underestimated the forward hand's size. it can still do with a bit of adjusting, but I like it more than I dislike it, which is good.

This is done with a chinese ink wash layer over a graphite underdrawing, with oil-based pencil drawing on top.

Entry for Jan 23, 2015

On Friday I went drawing again. I bypassed a too-busy session at TSA of short poses, and went over to Artists 25 instead. Polyna was there that night, doing part of a multi-week pose. This is a 2-hour study, done with gray ink in brushpens and some Chinese ink washes as base values.
The image is a little stiff.  Polyna's head seems a fraction big and edges into cartoon territory, and her foreshortened body sinking into the chair looks awkward. ( I don't know why people seem to be using black cloths on chairs and stools these days - it sort of undermines any adjacent shadow possibilities.)
I kept the background lighter, and I'm happy with the range of marks and values in this one, which includes a fair bit of applying dark ink on the tip of a pen filled with lighter ink, and exploiting the gradients that makes.
This is on an 11 x 22" sheet of the same 200 lb rag cold-pressed paper as the Tuesday. No sanding this time, and it was playing nicer, which I was liking. I feel the inks I are sitting better on this paper. Some of the background washes were applied with regular watercolour brushes, not brushpens, which led to broader strokes and some richer textural effects.

3rd entry for Sept 5, 2014

These are some 15-minute studies, done with water-soluble graphite pencils and Artgraf washes on 18 x 24" sheets of either Canson Montval or Stathmore watercolour paper.
Except for the middle one, which is the same material on an 18 x 24" sheet of Strathmore Series 300 paper. It has some active background marks, but i'm not happy with the figure and its' awkward head. I include it mainly to add context; that not every drawing comes together - some crap out in the middle of an otherwise okay drawing night.

3rd entry for July 22, 2014

These are three 5-minute studies, a 10-minute one and a 15-moniute one at the bottom. The top three are all Pitt pen on 18 x 24" sheets of Strathmore series 400 paper.
The lowest two are water-soluble graphite and regular graphite pencils on Canson Montval watercolour paper. I was experimenting with some cross-hatch with a hard pencil after, and like the tonally fluid background potential of it. It also makes a foil for the fluid tonal marks.
It was not my strongest session drawing, but really good practice. Fewer worked overall.  It wasn't 'til the last third of the time that I felt  I was getting in my drawing groove, and overall I wasn't working as fast as I would have liked.
Chloe's costume choices were interesting, and I particularly enjoyed the anatomy-patterned bodystocking she used for the last poses.
.... which is a great place to insert a reminder that I'm teaching a 5-day Anatomy and Figure Drawing intensive from August 18 - 22 at the TSA. 10 a.m to 5 p.m. daily and it's running. There's still space, and you can sign up here.

1st entry for June 8, 2014

On the Sunday morning I got out to the 519 Community Centre drawing group's once-monthly Sunday morning session (10 to 1 on the 2nd Sunday of every month, open to all) . The affable and very lanky Brendan was in working again this time. The top three studies are Pitt pen on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
The ones below are a 15-minute, two 25-minute and a 20-minute study, all done with water-soluble graphite pencils and water-soluble graphite washes. The first is on an 18 x 24"sheet of  Canson Mixed Media paper, and the three below are on Canson Montval watercolour sheets, same size. I'm not entirely happy with the partial figure - it's an awkward crop and the head doesn't sit quite right with the torso. The stretched-out one-knee-up reclining pose would have been too thin a strip, done head-to-toe, and had it worked, this cropping could be more intimate in focus.
I like the lying-down back study - it has a directness and vulnerability to it, for me. Win some, lose some...

Entry for Jan 18, 2012

On the Friday night I got out for the first time to Project:Art up on the 2nd floor across from City TV. Mark Hazen from the TSA is now hosting sessions there Thursday nights and friday nights from 7-10 each evening.
The Thursdays are the old TSA Thursday format of short poses. The Friday has one long pose. Currently they cost $10 for Thursday and $15 for Fridays, but the Thursdays may go up to $15 down the line.
Jeffrey was working that night. I got in late, and didn't have a strong personal response to the pose, so I used it to work on an adding/subtracting practice piece with willow charcoal and Nobel charcoal on the 18 x 24" Canson Recycled Sketch paper. In the end I wasn't that happy with the texture that created. The cast shadows are the part I like out of this study.

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.

2nd entry for Jan 20, 2012

After S-  finished, I slipped in for the final 20 minutes of a painting session next door.  P-   who ia a drawer was sitting. This is 2B graphite on a lightly prepared graphite ground.

5th Entry for Oct. 16, 2011

The study above was 15 minutes, and the one below was 20 minutes, but I worked on each during the breaks that followed them. Each had a light  underdrawing of willow charcoal that I wiped into the surface, followed by some highlight exposure with a kneaded eraser, and then overdrawing with hard U-Art compressed charcoal.
The willow charcoal really picked up on any finger oil on the paper when wiped, but also afforded a bit of quickly set down `infill' of the paper grain, to tone the harder charcoal's texture down in places. At 15 minutes, that's a rush, but at 20 minutes and up, it is more do-able.
The lower study of B- is nicely rendered in the body, but isn't quite anchored or grounded enough onto the space he is sitting on, I feel.

1st entry for Oct. 9, 2011

On the Sunday morning, I managed to get to part of the Sunday morning session, as well as the afternoon. S-  was working, and I had not drawn her before.
At top is a 10-minute study done with hard Koh-I-Noor compressed charcoal, and below that the head study was 15 minutes, done with hard U-Art charcoal.
The lower two studies were done during the afternoon's 3-hour pose. Both are done with U-Art hard compressed charcoal. The dark one is a 2 1/2 hour study, while the lowest one is a 25-minute study. 
The longer study is dramatic, but a little awkward & dense in places. The shorter study is much more fresh and conveys a much better sense of a flesh & bone body.
It's as if I got rid of most of the overworking in the first one, but I like the tonal drama of the upper one.  Once again, somewhere between these two is likely the place I would like the drawing to be in.

Entry for Oct. 3, 2011

On the Monday night, I went to the Ralph Thornton Centre, albeit a bit late getting there. C-    was working.   These are from the top, a 10-minute study, two 15-minute studies and a 20-minute one.  The other studies weren't strong enough to merit keeping.

These are all done with hard U-Art compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.

4th Entry for Sept. 29, 2011

These are a 15-minute study above, and two 20-minute ones below. The upper one is a combination of Koh-I-Noor and U-Art compressed charcoals, while the lower two are just the hard U-Art charcoal sticks. All are on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.
After the busy time in August and early September, I gravitated away from the exploration of fragmentary vignettes towards more full-figure studies. I was feeling like I wanted to be really solid in my basics.  But that night I was getting dissatisfied with the full-body drawings as any kind of personal statement. So for the last two I worked on the larger-than-usual (for me) head study, and let the torso fill the whole page on the final one. It could use some more modelling on the leg, but is dramatic.

2nd Entry for Sept. 20, 2011

These are 20-minute studies, using medium Koh-I-Noor charcoal sticks on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.
At the time, I felt that the head in the upper study was one of the better ones I've done of S-   . The one below, on the other hand; not so strong.

6th Entry for Aug 1, 2011

From the top, these are three 5-minute studies, a 10-minute one, and a final 5-minute one.  Apart from the standing figure, these were more documentary in intent again, and wrapped up the evening. After the gusto of the preceding gesture studies, these are more lively in their drawing.
Once again, the Sketchy's session was a good stretch. To have a full-colour photographic idea of the evening, check here.

All of these, and the prior ones were done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.