2nd entry for Dec. 3, 2013

These are four 5-minute studies at top, a pair of 10-minute ones below, and a 15-minute one at bottom. All are on 18 x 24" sheets of paper; the 5's are on Canson XL Drawing paper, the 10's on Somerset Book paper, and the bottom one on 150 lb. Maidstone rag paper.
The 5's are done mostly with Pitt calligraphy point pen and some additional black pan pastel for extra shading. The one with Katelyn holding silks and the two on the cream Somerset paper were done with a gray and a black Pentel brush pen,plus pan pastel after the fact.
The lower one s a combination of water-soluble graphite and graphite pencil.
And below all that is a 5-minute study, Pitt calligraphy point pen on 18 x 24" Canson Recycled Sketch paper. There was a little bit of time left over, so that was how things ended.
I don't feel it was an especially strong session. I was struggling with control of the pen and dry spots on the pen points. The Pitt felt pens can be finicky, but when the point cooperates on one,  I like the feel of drawing with it.
Drawing is like a selective mirroring. Obviously, each person's interpretations of the same subject matter will differ. My line these days tends to be dogged and precise - detail-oriented monochromatic contour drawing. Something I like about going to drawing sessions is seeing what other people do. You can get a very different sense of that afternoon in Tida Kietsungden's digital studies and more gestural drawings on paper, which are posted here.

1st entry for Dec 3, 2013

On the Tuesday, Katelyn was working over at the Drawing Room session. These are, I believe, a 1-minute study up top,  three 2-minute ones in the middle and a couple of 3-minute ones below. they are all done with a Pitt felt pen with pigment ink and a calligraphy point.
The bottom one has some black pan pastel added later .

2nd entry for Dec 1, 2013

The afternoon was three hours of one extended pose. For this I was still working on 18 x 24" sheets of paper, but using water-soluble graphite.
The top study is roughly 2 hours, on 150 lb. Maidstone rag paper with some pencil drawing added later. The lower one was roughly 30 minutes, and is on a sheet of 90 lb. Somerset Book rag paper.

1st entry for Dec 1, 2013

I made it out for most of a double-shot of life drawing on the Sunday over at the Daniels Spectrum Building in Regent Park. Jay was working that day, and I have not drawn him before. these are a 10-minute study up top, three 15-minute ones below that and a 7-minute study at bottom. The top and bottom studies are on Canson Racycled Sketch paper, and the middle three are on Canson XL Drawing paper. All the paper  sheets are 18 x 24".
Thy are drawn with a mix of dilute india ink delivered with a Pentel brushpen, and black ink from another Pentel brushpen. The lower two are done with a Pitt calligraphy point felt-tip pigment pen.

3rd entry for Nov 26, 2013

Scenes from a rehearsal/development session, part three.
Choreographer Brandy Leary (top) was watching and giving feedback as the dancers practiced other moves and experimented after the Seismology passage. That meant a fair bit of people sitting on the sidelines watching as others tried stuff out. The movement was too fast, but lots of opportunities to do fast studies of the resting dancers, which included - along with the aforementioned Ryan Lee and Holly Treddenick - Louis Laberge-Cote, Michael Caldwell, Lara Ebata, Jennifer Robichaud, Natalie Fullerton and others.
While she was sitting things out, Natalie got very cozy with the ropes, idly making nests and hammocks, which was the end of my available drawing time.
It is one kind of luxury to be able to have aerialists and performers holding still at the Drawing Room sessions. It is another kind of privilege and luxury to get to be a fly on the wall of so many good performers developing work. The constant motion really challenges one's drawing skills, to get whatever one can down. It is really good fluidity and spontaneity practice.

2nd entry for Nov 26, 2013

These are more studies, roughly in sequence, from the Seismology excerpt that was rehearsed that afternoon. Ryan Lee was the performer climbing up and over the shrouded figures of other dancers, until they were eventually unveiled. Among the other performers was Holly Treddenick, who did some dramatic trapeze work once uncovered.
These are all black medium ballpoint on 11 x 18" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper. The studies lasted as long as they lasted - most are under a minute.

1st entry for Nov 26, 2013

(Sometimes, even the most die-hard blogger has to take a little break... back now with more documentation of this year's life studies)

It was more non-stop drawing on the Tuesday afternoon over at The Collective Space performance/rehearsal venue. (The Collective Space is a co-op of five aerialists and dancers, and no connection to the Collective drawing crew that meet on Thursdays. "The Collective" with no qualifier has become a bit over-saturated as a group name these days...)
That afternoon, choreographer and CS member Brandy Leary was running a rehearsal for her Anandam Dance Theatre company, exploring a work-in-progress called "Seismology".
Some of the drawers from the Drawing Room session that usually takes place in the space came and camped out in the space's upper level and sketched the performers on the move.
Discussion breaks were good, both for witnessing the creative process, and also for sketching dancers sitting and stretching.
The performance had Ryan Lee climbing and rolling over a landscape created by multiple dancers slowly rising beneath a huge white sheet of fabric. It was a very interesting set of visuals.
Drawing dancers moving - even slowly - is part memory drawing, part trying to capture air. I was working on 11 x 18" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper with medium black ballpoint pens. For me ballpoints are still the best speed-drawing tool: no dipping, no sharpening, no smudging and they keep pace with scribbling.