2nd entry for June 4, 2012

These are 25-two studies. Both are done with very soft graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of Maidstone paper that was prepared with masses of gray using powdered charcoal.
In these I'm interested in interfering with the relative clarity of the figure drawing by situating it on top of a strong set of textures, which introduce a random element. I think it kinda works in places, but I'm still deciding to what degree I like it.

1st entry for June 4, 2012

The next day I headed over to part of the AGO's open drawing session. S-  was working, and these are a 5-minute , a 20-minute and a 10-minute study, all done with extra-soft graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Drawing paper.

7th entry for June 3

These are three 15-minute studies at top, then a 20-minute one, and lastly a 15-minute one that finished that evening. I was getting comfortable enough  with my drawing that I was starting to go beyond practice needs back into my "no boring drawings" mission of this year in some of these - in terms of placement and liveliness of mark-making.

Speaking of lively matk-making, next Monday, June 25th, the Drawing Room session will be restarting. Organised by artist/aerialist Diane Mcgrath, it is a two hour session of mostly short poses, with dancers, aerial performers and the like doing poses on equipment like silks, hoops and trapeze.
It's out in the west end, on Stirling Rd, runs 7:30-9:30, and is open to anyone.
If you're on facebook, you can get more details on their group page here.

6th entry for June 3, 2012

These are a 5-minute study above, and two 10-minute ones below. All are done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

Next weekend (June 23 & 24)  I will be hosting an open house and sale at my studio near Queen and Bathurst, looking at my back catalogue of printmaking work from the mid '90's. I'll post more details on exactly where and when later this week, so check in Thursday or Friday on that.

You can see a few prints in one of my flickr albums, here.

5th entry for June 3, 2012

These are 1-minute studies done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

If you want to learn or refresh life drawing skills,  in July and August I'm teaching an 8 week course on beginning life drawing at the Toronto School of Art.
It runs Tuesday nights, 6:30 - 9:30.
For more information, check at the TSA website here. 

4th entry for June 3, 2012

I returned for the Sunday evening, where I found G-   working. These are 1-minute studies, done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

3rd entry for June 3, 2012

I stayed for a good portion of the afternoon, when M-  was doing one sustained pose. In the top one I tried a material from Derwent - a watercolour Art Bar - which yielded a decent fine-grained tone, but broke very easily and tended to melt in the heat of my fingers, much like a soft litho crayon (which is something I've been meaning to revisit, actually. it's been years since I used one).
The Art Bar I was using on an 18 x 24" sheet of Canson Recycled Sketch paper, coupled with an HB Wolff's carbon pencil. It was okay, but a bit too fussy. The drawing was roughly 1.5 hrs. The lower one was a 20-minute study on the same paper with hard compressed charcoal.