Happy Halloween?

It seems that Halloween isn't even allowed to finish it's time these days.  I have seen several stores with Christmas already up, a week or two before Fright Night.  I won't even get myself started on this pet peeve.

The Weed of Crime...

... bears bitter art. Something different today. Just dinkin' around last night after I finished a commissioned nude since I am falling back into my Shadow fascination. My poor wife, she puts up with so much of my geekishness, I'm very lucky. Anyhow, here is a quick sketch of the Master of Darkness.

Double Exposure

A couple of drawings from the end of the evening.  I thought I'd give a head shot a try and rather than move to another page I just worked out the smaller back shot.  I like both efforts, especially the rendering of the back.  Again, I was just feeling my way around with light lines before going for a finish.  A lot of the time I get in a rush to put down the finished stroke and get a ham handed looking drawing for my troubles.  This is why I purposely concentrated on the more delicate underdrawing and I think, for the most part, it paid off.

Better

This is more like it.  Confident yet subtle lines, the complementary shading, the small areas of detail.  I don't know where my head was on the previous piece but it was good to get refocused and kick out a nicer drawing.

Oops

Not sure what's wrong with this one but all I know is I don't care for it. I think it looks "cartoony". Not what I was hoping for. At least I righted the ship with the next one.

Another in the same vein

Although the handling is a little heavier than yesterday's image, the devil's in the details in this one as well.  Unlike the last piece, this one I did work on the head a bit.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with this one.

It's a building process

I am really happy with the line work on this particular drawing.  I deliberately chose to work on the figure and give the head short shrift.  This type of pose usually gives me a lot of opportunities to render something interesting.  The extended leg and the flexed forearm got the most attention but I think the light lines and shading give this piece it's interest.

Use what you got

This was the first drawing of the evening and I used what was left of some paper I had.  Notice the cut lines and such.  Too bad, it's a nice drawing.

New work

A familiar model gives one freedom to explore a bit more than normal. At least that is the case with me. These are the gesture drawings from last night. I seemed to get into the flow very quickly which led me to some decent drawings. We'll explore those in the coming days. Ah, it's good to be back, if only for a week.

Drawing Tonight...

yeah. Here is another oldie. New stuff tomorrow.

Too tutu

At one time we had a dancer for a model. She graciously posed a la Degas and this was probably my best effort. Again, simplified shapes and lost edges, my favorite method of drawing.

Another old sketch

Nothing witty (as if there ever is) so I will just post this piece from about 5 years ago. I always thought this looked like an academic study of a sculpture. Nope, but it is a study of a sculptor, one member of a family of local artists. Kind of fitting.

More old stuff

This one hangs in our home. I have always been partial to the simplicity of this piece. The tilt of the head, the scarf and the hair all lend an air of relaxation, a moment caught. Not so much a pose as just a glance.

Just a drawing

No insight.  Nothing to say.  Enjoy your Sunday, everybody.

An older sketch

I hope I haven't posted this one before, my record keeping was a little iffy at the beginning of this little venture.  Anyhow, this piece reminds me of my favorite Harvey T. Dunn painting from 1939.  In tone only.  I have always wanted to reproduce my own version of this painting.  Perhaps someday.

Last of last week

and then I'll have to pull some from the distant past.  

This one was a bad drawing that I just decided to work over.  I started with black conté and found that my proportions were really off.  Instead of starting over I just grabbed the magic terra cotta and started back in.  I actually like the result.  The pose was casual with some nice elements to get into, the back, the right arm, the hair and the twist of the shoulders.  I wish I hadn't screwed up in the first place but this turned out to be one of those learning sketches, only I served as my own critic.

Thank you , Sara.  As always, a great job.

No Drawing Tonight, Guys

We will meet at our regular time next week.  In the meantime, here is another sketch from last week.  Not as successful as the last two but there are some nice things to take away from this.  The pose was challenging and we were into it for about fifteen minutes.  I know, how could I not get the face done.  I got caught up in the legs and just kind of lost track.  Anyhow, I like the indication of the hand and the general feel of the slouching body.  The way the legs lead the eye out and then back into the image works for me from a design standpoint.  However, not getting the face done is poor time management on my part.  C'est la vie.

Ebb and flow

Well, really just flow.  Probably my best effort of the night.  Long lines and simple shapes make for an elegant pose.  Not much else to say and hopefully the old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" is applicable here.

Okay...

... I'm pretty pleased with this one.  I've always been partial to back poses and this one has a lot going for it.  Starting with the long hair draped over the shoulder, like a waterfall as it cascades into the waiting pool of cloth.  The design element alone always captivates me and it takes a lot of effort not to just doodle away with the strands of hair, Mucha-like.  The hair then strikes the tilted shoulders which create the beautiful mass of muscle, not much different than the rocks that make up a cliff face with all of the interesting shapes.  However, unlike a landscape that can be created by the capricious whims of nature, the muscles actually have a distinct purpose.  They create the large area of the back and fold into the hollow of the spine where the hip meets.  This is followed by the large mass of the buttocks which has a surprising number of shapes within it.  Sometimes I like to just throw a large, graceful line to create the shape but other times I like to show the various muscles that leave an undulating line, like small waves that roll in on one another.  This all leads to the legs which lead one out of the image and then quickly bring the eye back with the bend at the knee all ending in the graceful and incredibly complex foot.  Much like following the pool of water as it settles into the quiet surroundings of a mountain glade.  Why the comparison of a human figure to a landscape?  I dunno, maybe because I always feel the need to justify not being a landscape artist to so many people.  Maybe because to the general public I feel that figurative art is not appreciated for what it is, a very beautiful form of expression.

  Or maybe I'm just full of it.

Seated

Back to the terra cotta or sanguine or red or whatever one wants to call it.  I really liked this pose and started to play a bit with the lost edges that I like so much.  I would like to have had a little more time to finish this off but that's the way the charcoal crumbles.  

Let's hope that today is the start of something good and hey, let's be careful out there.

Back in Black

Black conté, that is.  A switch from sanguine to black was a bit startling when I did it and it seemed to affect the way I was approaching the drawing.  Without the warmth of the color I started feeling a bit more constuctionistic about my style.  Perhaps it had to do with the fact that all of my "red" conté crayons are not much more than stumps and the black offered me more of a surface to drag the shading and more of the sharp edges to create the line work.  Or it may have more to do with the feeling I get when I work with the terra cotta, more like infusing the drawing with more than just the cold medium and giving it some sense of life.  No, not life but... something more than just lines and shading.  Eh, I'm probably just tired and babbling on.  Regardless, the red conté has always been something I've felt quite comfortable with and I hope not to stray from it for so long again.

  On another note, my father in law is doing better.  We hope he is moved from ICU today.

A reality check

I'd like to go on about the design elements and the manner in which the conté was applied and so on, but sometimes reality kind of puts things in perspective.  I spent last night at the ER with my wife and her family.  My father in law suffered an aneurysm and had emergency surgery.  He is resting in the ICU and we will be waiting and seeing how things go.  Makes a little drawing seem pretty insignificant.

Gesture pages

Hmmm. Maybe, just maybe I'm still in a bit of the groove. Here are the gestures from last night. I stuck entirely to conté for the evening. Happy with it but now I need to find some better paper. Gotta quit being cheap and break down for something that will help me out a bit. Some tooth, donchaknow. Anyhow, gestures are gestures and some of them even have a bit of oomph to them.

Hoping to keep it going

This was the last drawing from last Thursday.  There is more energy to this one and a lot more to the pose, giving us more spatial problems to solve.  I really enjoyed this drawing and found it a very satisfactory way to end the evening.  I know I haven't really explored the images themselves in much depth but for me this was more about getting back into the groove and the grouping represents a change in mindset and focus.  I'm not sure about anyone else but if I don't have the proper attitude I just can't produce anything worth a spit.  Oh, sure, sometimes the drawings somehow turn out well enough but I often go back and realize that they could have been so much more.  Whether the line work has no style or is too heavy or I end up doodling in one area longer than I should, I can tell how my mood was and that informs my opinion of the finished piece.  I'll try to be more impassive with this next set of drawings.  Thanks for stopping by.

Conté

This is the one that made my night.  Almost got the whole figure but that wasn't the point, the pose was fluid and the lines just flowed.  Not much else to say other than I finally felt good about an evening of life drawing.  Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy the challenge of Thursday nights, but this time I finally felt good about the work I ended up with.  Now, to do it again tomorrow.

Switch to an old friend

Why it has taken me so long to get back to conté I don't know, but it sure was great to use it again. I'm not sure if I had finally gotten into the groove or if the conté did half the work for me but I was finally happy not only with the drawing but with actually doing the drawing. Of course, the pose was great with great lines and a nice twist to the figure. My only regret is that I ran out of time for the face. However, it was good to finally get something worthwhile.

Happy Anniversary, honey. Eight and counting. I love you.

Finally...

one I am pleased with.  I know that there is no shading for form, but I took the time to really observe and render with a bit of care and, at least for the rest of the evening, I turned a corner.  With a little focus I was able to finally put myself in a zone.  This is not to say I don't focus on my work, I do.  However I was able to block out the clock and everything else and just make my hand place the lines where I wanted them to go, with the subtlety and weight that I wanted.  This led to the final three drawings of the night that made me feel pretty good.  Of course, the key is to stay in the zone...

Getting there

Starting to get in the groove.  Better stuff to come.

Warming up

These were the first couple of efforts of the night and I still hadn't found my groove.  The back shot had the most going for it but I wasn't able to account for the subtle shifting of the model, an occurrence that happens with any pose requiring a twist to the torso.  By the time my brain engaged I realized that all I had to do was move the easel slightly but I had already placed darks and the left arm and... well, I had already screwed up.  The full figure sketch was more of a "measure twice, draw once" kind of problem.  It was the first drawing of the night and I leaped before I looked.  They did get better as the night went on, I promise.  Especially when I decided to make a return to a different drawing medium.  Stay tuned.

Better

Here are the gestures from last night. I did a really quick shoot this morning and will be reshooting this stuff tomorrow. Until then, here are the quick draws.

Tonight will be better

Stephanie will be the model again tonight and I hope, no I vow, to do better.  I hate being haunted by a wasted opportunity to produce good art.

This was probably my best effort despite the fact that I didn't get the face done.  I really liked the pose and the rendering was more to my liking.  The strong shadows and the solid masses contribute to the reason I am happy with this sketch.  The perspective helps a lot as it giave me the chance to create space.