Pose

From earlier this year.

Quick pose

In between poses at life drawing, the model covered up and knelt to check her phone, and it was so nice I had to catch it.

Funny to sneak a drawing of the model clothed in between session of drawing her naked. Like a reversal of things.

Bird

Reworked an old life drawing sketch.

I don't know either. Off the pain killers so can"t blame them !

Staples

Not the office supply store, the niggly little bits of metal currently pinning me together.

Coming out later today though, with immense relief I can tell you.

Self portrait with wounds

Wanted to face up to the operations, so have been painting the incision scars I currently have.

A record of an event and a time.

1 WEEK

Have some enforced time on my hands this week, so the plan is to produce and post something every day this week.

Shuttleworth Collection

Went on an excursion to the Shuttleworth Collection the other day. Excellent day out with two sketching mates.

Could get quite excited about this place. Will be going back I am certain.

Did a view through the middle of the display in one of the hangers, of various tails and wings and struts. Altogether there are 8 planes in this one.

Want to develop this one more, and explore the whole idea further.

Fifty shades of....

Had an excellent wander around the National Gallery with an artist last week. I introduced him to Van Dyke and he opened my eyes to the use of grey in skin tones. Will explore this idea more.

In the mean time here is one from a few weeks back.

Back being the appropriate word.

Greys ? Hmm, Almost.

Border breaking

A 20 min pose from last Thursday session.

Like how the figure is outside the border at the bottom and behind it at the top. Completely accidental but something I am going to explore some more. A happy accident.

But I also think I have made the torso just a bit too long here.

Always forwards.

20 min Torso

Have posted this on the Life drawing site, but it can lodge a place here too.

Am pleased with the translucence of the paint. Something to work at more. A little overworked as well, so curb it back next time.

The red continues.....

From the other Sunday at St Albans...

Like the small marks of colour around the torso.

Welcome to Burlesque

Anyone seen that Cher film Burlesque. Brilliantly silly. I like the bit where the new girl in town decided to research Burlesque and gets all the books out of the library on it.

Anyway, after many opportunities, finally went to a Burlesketch. The model was Chici.

An interesting experience. Maybe a little too objectifying for me, but it made me smile. Chici said she usually got more whooping from her audience. And we were told we had to applaud when she entered, which we dutifully did. In the silence of a life drawing class her beads rattled like anxious insects.

Maryam

The model this week was Maryam, who had fantastic hair that just asked to be drawn.

More feet

This one looks better as a photo than it does in reality.

The background colour was a pre-painted experiment, works well but haven't revisited it as a colour since.

Feet

Have done 2 studies of feet at two different sessions. Both 20 min poses. In truth, to do feet justice you can't really do the rest of the body as well in that time. So I focus on this one bit and to hell with the person attached to them.

It's survival of the feetest.

( groan )

Red Again

Continuing the theme.

More red

I think this was a 10 min pose, so not a huge amount of time, but it benefits from that as it is just big washes of two colours, with a quick drop of shadow just to sit the body down.

And walk away from it.

Good model.

RRREEEEEEEDDDDDD

Say it like Chiwetel Ejiofor in "Kinky Boots". Rrrreeeeeeeeeeddddddduuuhhh.

One of the developments last year was the suggestion and adoption of red backgrounds.

Stops the skin colours looking so dead, like they do on black.

Will post some other examples over the next few days.

Back

Life Drawing.

Always enjoy a good back, especially one as animated as this one.

Sometimes you get it all right and a drawing just comes together and works. 

Dull Boy

So it was all work and no play last year, and am guilty as charged.

Time to claw this back from the brink of extinction and revive it's fortunes. With a last chance posting  on the very toehold of January.