6th entry for Mar 11, 2012

These are a 15-minute study above, and a 20-minute one below. Both are done on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb. Maidstone paper, and both have had further reworking after. The top one has quite extensive post-session reworking. I was happy with the forms in A-   's back, but the texture of the shading, and the placement against a bare picture space weren't working for me.
... Which made it an ideal candidate for experimenting.
Both images have a graphite underlayer.  Both use primarily hard Nobel compressed charcoal, plus some black Nupastel for the darkest passages in the upper one.

5th entry for Mar 11, 2012

 

These are a 5-minute head study at top, three 10-minute ones, and a 15-minute study at the bottom. All are done with hard compressed charcoal,  on 18 x 24" sheets of  Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

4th entry for Mar 11, 2012

I was back for that evening.  A-  was working, and these are some 1-minute studies.  They are done with a square stick of Nobel hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.

3rd entry for Mar 11, 2012

 

I stayed in through the afternoon - these area a 2-hour study above, and a 40-minute one below,  At the time I was fooled by the time change - I didn't realise I'd spent as long on L-   back as I was looking at a clock that was still an hour behind.

The top study is nice enough, but the shorter one has a bit more life. Both were done with the same Maidstone paper and other elements I was using in the previous post.

If you're in the downtown core this week, try checking out the show of figurative work by OCADU students, up on the 2nd floor of the 100 McCaul St. building. There's some interesting pieces.

2nd entry for Mar 11, 2012

These are a pair of 20-minute studies that ended the morning. Both are on 22 x 30" 90 lb Maidstone paper with a graphite powder  underlayer, and hard compressed charcoal on top.
The graphite seems ro work especially well when it is left less evenly spread; it imparts a painterliness and atmosphere to the surrounding space.

1st entry for Mar 11, 2012

Sunday morning. The clock had sprung forward, St. Patrick's day was upon us, and I got in for part of the Sunday morning session at the TSA. It was another dancer,   L-    who was working (A-   , who was there on the Thursday night , is a dancer as well.)

Not that I'm complaining - I am a big dance fan. I'm looking forward to seeing the Chimera Project's "Fresh Blood" showcase of upcoming dancer-choreographers this weekend at Harbourfront. Tickets are still likely available, and it will be well worth seeing.

But back to these studies, which are two 10-minute ones and a 15-minute one below, dome with a hard compressed charcoal stick on 18 x 24 sheets of paper - bond for the top one, and Canson Sketch for the ones below.

2nd entry for Mar 8, 2012

For the early part of Thursday evening I was enjoying being at the opening of the exhibition by the TSA Professional skills class. Called `Nextus', the show is up at Gallery 1313 until March 18th.  The opening was thronged with happy people, which was great to see.
After a happy hour or so there, I stopped in to the last part of the TSA's drawing session. A-  was working. These are all on 22 x 30" sheets of Maidstone paper, with a quite light graphite underlayer.  I found some flat sticks of the same hard Nobel charcoal I've been using in round woodless pencil forrmat.  The square sticks handle a wee bit different, but entail a lot less fissling and mess with sanding, which is a plus. These were all done with just a hard square Nobel stick.
It wasn't my best night, but the results are not dissimilar to middling good drawings on newsprint that I have done.