Turning her back on 2013

Saying goodbye to the year that was and looking forward to the year to be.

From the Dancer's first session

Simple but graceful.

Simply Paige

A simple and unfinished sketch that all the same is fairly nice.  Paige is a terrific model and I'm looking forward to having her pose for us again in the new year.

Coy pose from Paige

I just couldn't get her face right but otherwise I'm kind of fond of this sketch.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas

Spending time with family is an art in itself at times.  Here's hoping you are having a wonderful holiday season.

On the Eve of Christmas, she sleeps

Visions of sugar plums, perhaps?

I want to paint this pose

I would have drawn this all evening if I could have.  This would have been a great exercise in painting as well as drawing.  I hope our dancer will recreate this one at some further date. 

Gestures of a dancer

Last of the night

I should have made more of an effort to render her hands as she had them in a very graceful pose.  I was distracted by the great shadows she was casting.  I like this sketch, regardless.

A little head study

I would love to go back into this one and really stylize the hair and maybe add some kind of ornate jewelry element... an earring or necklace, perhaps an antique hair clip. 

Let's get to a more finished sketch, shall we?

Our model took an interesting pose here, forcing her shoulders out and creating a concave form for us to draw.  I really enjoyed this although she couldn't hold the extreme aspect of the pose (no surprise, very difficult to begin with).  With the bit of hair that fell in front of her face it became an intriguing image for me.

Working through it all

Just knocking the rust off the charcoal after a couple of weeks off.  Our dancer is back.

Gestures of the dancer

She's back and we had a great night of drawing.  Our dancer is very graceful, indeed.

The Process

One of the few times I make big adjustments to a sketch during the ten minute time frame.  I probably should do this more often.

Draped

Another older piece of Cally from July.  Simple but not too terribly interesting.  I liked the composition but it seems I (all together now) ran out of time.

Paige in profile

I would love another shot at this pose.  I'm happy enough with the figure but the face just didn't come through for me.

Cookies & Milk

The final painting for this year's Moss Mansion raffle.

Languid

So very relaxed.  These are my favorite type of poses, so many different relationships between soft and rigid, flesh & bone. 

We won't be drawing tonight, again

It's too cold out here to ask people or models to come out.  -18 tonight just doesn't seem like an enjoyable night.

Smiles all around

Ah, she must be thinkin' that she's glad she won't have to model in the arctic cold this Thursday.

A return to Cally

Going back a few months for this one.  I like the thoughtful look on her face as well as the way her hand interacts with her left cheek.  Not the greatest execution but I like enough of it.

Some older stuff

Working from the top down.  I really enjoy drawing Paige's face and got a bit caught up in a short sketch.

Black Friday

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, celebrating the holiday the way it suits you best.  This pose is how I ended up after the meal, passed out in front of the TV (which was fine since my wife was watching Lady GaGa... sheesh).

Another page of Paige

I really like this one.  I kind of stylized her face accentuating the eyes and changing a bit of the shape of her nose.

A bit of the tattoo

Paige has an intricate tat running the length of her spine.  I began the top and bottom of the body art but ran out of time to complete the entire thing.  I hope to finish this as well as the first back drawing I did of her a few weeks back.

Simple pose, simple sketch.  I like where this was going.

Gestures of Paige

A great night with a great crowd with Paige giving us some really terrific poses.  I really would have loved to have turned some of these into finished (or semi-finished) drawings.

One of my favorite poses

I never seem to get tired of drawing this pose.  Just so much to work with what with the perspective and the relaxed figure.

Very basic

It doesn't get any more generic than this.  Great shapes that became almost abstract when I was drawing them.  So many nice, long lines to throw.  It may not look special but I had fun doing it.

Second hour

Usually start to get better.  This is alright.

Getting used to the new model

It always takes me some time to get used to a new model, but she made it pretty easy on us.

Gestures with our newest model

Great night last night with a big crowd (for us) and a terrific new model.  We look forward to working more with her.  Some decent work came out of the evening and I'll post some of the better stuff next week.

Fave of the night

At least this time she has both eyes.  I really liked how this was turning out.

Torso

A rather soft rendition of Paige's torso, something I don't often do.  Once I realized I wasn't going any farther with the figure I spent more time just working the shadows.  I really like how this turned out.

Just her back

Basically just a start to a sketch.

Was really enjoying this one

Lost track of time.  Would love to finish this one off. 

Back to the drawing board

Paige returns and these are the requisite gestures from last night.  I did a couple of head studies that I am quite happy with.  They will be posted next week.

Love this sketch

I had a blast drawing this one and am pretty happy with the end result.  I love the look on Paige's face, all of the great shapes and how they relate to one another.  The dimension really comes through on this one.  Sure, more time, better paper and all that jazz would make for a finished piece but...

So so

Some stuff I like and some stuff I don't.  Not my favorite, that's for sure.

Movement

I like the ebb and flow of this pose.  Fun one to draw as well.

On her break

Not really but it was the last pose of the evening so she seemed pretty relaxed.

Some of the overflow to fill the coming week

Halloween cancelled our weekly session so it's back to the stuff I have saved to make up for the lack of new drawings.  I hope I can find something good...