1st entry for April 26, 2009

These were running from 1-minute up to 10 minutes. C- was the model on the Sunday night. I find her face to be very striking, as it is particularily angular, so there was a lot of head-and-shoulder studies that night. Also, like K- , C- often has 'in-between' expressions - not an obvious smile or frown, for example, so I find it challenging to set down what I see.

2nd entry for April 24, 2009

These were all in the 15-minute range. E- was trying out some props that night. The water bottle on the head was a hard one to reconcile. On one hand, it looked a mite silly. But E- is so good humoured that the sight of her being unafraid to be a little goofy was endearing, and I tried to document that aspect of it. There are few circumstances where holding a water bottle on one's head - dressed or undressed - is not incongruous. But who says that models - dressed or undreessed - have to be serious. Maybe it is the touchy position that nudity occupies in my mind that requires that it be contextualised seriously.
But that was a pose that throws a curveball at the artist - if I don't like a bottle on her head, than it is my choice to change that - into a crown or anything else I would like to see on her head. If I can't figure out something to do with this, then that is a failure of my imagination.

(* I was talking to E- a little later (on May 22nd), who explained that the bottle on the head was inspired by a folk dance with a wine glass held atop one's head, so there you go...)

The pose holding the leafy branch was a 20-minute one. the leaves cast some very nice shadows onto E- 's body.

1st entry for April 24, 2009

On Friday, my time and attention were a bit sidelined by some outside concerns at the school. but I did attend most of the drawing session. E- was working. i enjoy drawing her in part because she radiates a sense of easy happiness as a person. These were some of the 5 and 10-minute poses that she did.

6th entry for April 23, 2009

These were the last poses of the evening - a 5-minute and two 10-minute ones. I am always impressed at how much I am able to get down in these time spans at this session. i believe it is largely due to how many short poses we warm up with.

5th entry for April 23, 2009

After the break, J- switched to the big hoop and a length of super-stout rope. These were all 5-minute poses she took. the lighting was working well for me that evening, leaving some good shadow-patterns on J- .

4th entry for April 23, 2009

These were 3-minute poses. After this we took a break. I asked J- if she had some ballet training, and yes, she had. A couple of her poses had the sense of barre exercises and arabesques.

2nd entry for April 23, 2009

These poses all ran in the 2-minute range. I was fairly awake and alive that evening, and getting a lot down quickly.