2nd entry for Nov 4, 2012

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

As noted, I am having an open house this weekend at my cozy and cluttered studio. This time it will be predominately figure studies from the past 20 years that feature people's backs. Strong backs, bold backs, soft backs, gentle backs - all kinds, in a wide range of sizes and media.
My studio is at 165 Bathurst St, just south of Queen St, and it will run 1 - 6 pm on Saturday, Nov 17 and noon - 6 on Sunday, Nov 18. Everyone is welcome to come and bring friends. Lots to see and you might even find something you'd like to own...

1st entry for Nov 4, 2012

On the Sunday night at TSA the very dynamic Ed was working. I find his gesture poses are especially high-energy. These are 1-minute studies done with medium compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

I won't be showing gesture drawings, but I am having an open house this weekend at my cozy and cluttered studio. This time it will be all figure studies from the past 20 years that feature people's backs, in a wide range of sizes and media. My studio is at 165 Bathurst St, just south of Queen St, and it will run 1 - 6 pm on Saturday, Nov 17 and noon - 6 on Sunday, Nov 18. Everyone is welcome to come and bring friends. Lots to see and you might even find something you'd like to own...

Entry for Nov 2

On the Friday Phlip was in working. It was nice to see him at the TSA  open session. I was continuing to push the blind-ish contour studies on one 18 x 24" bond paper page for the first bit of the evening.
Below that are a couple of 10-minute studies. done with hard nobel compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
At home I was experimenting with altering some charcoal drawings; I have quite a stack of okay studies to use as test material now. Rubbing a charcoal drawing on the Canson thoroughly with a soft  paper towel generates a gray ghost image, which has me curious about overlayering imagery. The fourth image has a 10-minute back study that was reworked that way, and a 15-minute head study atop it.
The second-last image is on 22 x 30" 90 lb Maidstone paper. It has an underdrawing of nobel and willow charcoal that was then rubbed to a more pale gray, and overlaid with a 20-minute standing study in soft compressed charcoal for contrast.
There was about10 minutes left at the end that I used for a head study, back with the hard Nobel and Canson combo.

2nd entry for Oct. 30, 2012

These are a 10-minute study above, and three 20-minute ones below. The top two are on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper, while the lower two are on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb. Maidstone rag paper. All are drawn with hard compressed charcoal. The standing figure was rubbed over with paper towel after, to see what would happen.

1st entry for Oct 30, 2012

On the Tuesday night I got back to Artists 25 for the first time in a long time.  Tom Phillips, their longstanding host is recuperating from a knee repair, so the space was kind of quiet, noticeably lacking a distinctive ingredient.
Susan was working, and these are some 2-minute and 5-minute studies. Once again I used some of the time to push myself to do some more `connected' blind-ish contour studies. These are all done with medium compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

5th entry for Oct 29, 2012

These are two 10-minute studies above and a 15-minute one below. All are done with hard compressed charcoal on 22 x 30" 90 lb. Maidstone rag paper.
My drawing was irregular that night, but the poses were good and challenging. You can find out more about the model Miranda's aerial work on her site here.

4th entry for Oct 29, 2012

These are 5-minute studies, done with hard Nobel charcoal on 23 x 34" sheets of Durotone paper.