Turning our backs on 2017

Here's hoping the coming year is a better one.  Less craziness, more sanity.

Lady B from my last session of the year

Really enjoyed working on this one, especially the lost edges and the area around the rib cage.  Just a lot of fun here.

Cowboy Jeff

A real old sketch of Jeff from a session that I can't remember the purpose of.  A painting I suppose.  Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Merry Christmas

See y'all on Wednesday.  Hope it's a wonderful holiday for everyone.

Fechin inspired sketch

I asked our model to take a pose similar to this classic Nicholai Fechin painting.  It was a joy to work on.

Delicate little head study

A couple pops of white conté help with this minimal study of Lady E's face. 

Takin' a load off

Another one from '15.  Great angle and movement in this piece.  Even the splayed arm keeps the composition flowing.

So much modeling

Lady D was a great model for us for a couple of years and this is one of the sketches where I really loved the "finished"product.  The mass and weight are really present here.

From '10

Really like the design of this.  Wish I could remember if I did this intentionally or not.

From '13

I am happy with the weight and mass that this drawing carries.  It's always fun to get a complete(ish) drawing done during a session.  This was fun to draw and ultimately a very satisfying sketch.

From '15

I'm in a Kent Williams frame of mind these days and this one always reminded me of an image KW might do.  I had so much fun with this and, truth be told, I am happy I ran out of time because I don't think there was much reason to do much more.  Maybe the right arm could have a few more marks but it really isn't necessary.

Back

Just a bit of back structure from 2016.  Gonna be scrounging for images for the next couple of weeks.  I really have trouble being away from life drawing for so long, I get a bit jittery.

Her right foot

Well, that draws attention to the terrible trouble I had rendering the foot.  The angle just didn't translate well for me.

That time of year...

I have to sacrifice my weekly drawing sessions for holiday related events.  Why Thursday evening seems to be the only night anyone wants to do something is beyond me but there you have it.  I'll post some things in the next few weeks that maybe I haven't posted (like the above image) or I may go back into the archives for some of my favorites.  Either way I'll keep the drawings coming.
I really like the techniques in this one even if the lack of a face and finished left foot bug me and make for a rather incomplete sketch.

Long and lean

Loved the shadows on this one.  Especially around her right knee.  This one really made my heart sing for whatever reason.  Sometimes things just reach out that you can't quite put your finger on.

Wrong chunk of charcoal

Such a nice pose ruined by a rather rough stick of heavy black charcoal.

Crunch

A simple pose, almost abstract.

Trying to get back into the flow of things.

Lady B isn't quite gone yet

The gestures of Lady B.  We thought she was gone but her schedule opened up and we were only too happy to have her return.  A nice turnout last night and a great way to start the charge towards the new year.

Lost in Thought

My favorite aspect of this drawing is the way the arm bleeds into the shadows of the drapery, it seems fluid to me.  Liquid-like. 

Lady B takes a seat

Nice pose that takes decent advantage of the strong lighting.  Given time this could have been pushed further. 

It's all there

I love it when such a loosely rendered image contains everything it needs.  I don't even mind the absence of her face in this one.

Took a break for the holidays...

Long pose from our last session.  Having her arm cut through the midsection creates two separate drawings.  I think I failed to pull this one together correctly.  This comes from not stepping back in the early stages, although I did work on the upper body for the largest portion of the session and knocked in the hips and legs in the last couple of minutes.  Still, if I had spent a few moments at the outset and made sure the two halves worked together I'd be in a much stronger position to have a decent finished piece.

Hippy little study

What to say about some real basic shapes... not much. 

Sketchy, as my grandson would say

Loose and light.  But I like it.  A good warm up.

Possibly the last gestures of Lady B

Lady B must move on with things and this very well may have been her swan song for The Black Hand Group.  If so, it was a great run and I truly appreciate all of the effort that she has put into working with us. 

Long and lean

This is my favorite from the evening.  I put a bit more time in after the model broke pose as I was absolutely fascinated with the heavy shadows.  This was way too much fun to have been a mere 10 minute pose.

Long pose

There are some really interesting parts to this drawing.  I was really getting involved with the strong shadows and got absolutely enthralled with the play of light and dark.  Hard shadows becoming mid-tones abutted by strong light.  So much fun...

Partial torso

Just the right side of the model's torso in this one.  I was really wanting to explore the relation between the ribs and the abdomen, so many subtle shades and dimensions.  I don't think I was looking for a finished drawing, just a journey with the charcoal.

Stylized face

I like where I was going with this quick little study.  A simplified approach to Lady B's face really helped me get away from trying to be so precise, especially with a five minute drawing.

Gestures of Lady B

Inspired is the word I used for her gesture poses.  Really wish a couple of them would have been turned into longer pieces.

Yet another back view

A more fully rendered (not by much though) sketch of Lady B's back.  I really enjoyed the process of this one.  I wish that I had gone with lost edges, at least in areas of the right side of her torso, letting her interact with the paper/background.

Classic back

Simple and elegant, just not complete.

Long pose

Not sure why I didn't get very far in this one.  I had to erase her face a few times as the angle kept changing.  I'll chalk it up to that.  Well, that and getting a bit too involved with getting the fingers right.

Took a break...

The gestures from Thursday.  B always does a great job and I really enjoy the sessions with her.

Sketchy but interesting

I really like how this came out.  Very loose, very impressionistic.  Yet recognizable.  This was fun.

Kinda sketchy

I was just trying to find something to latch onto and I guess it was the hard shadow along the left side of the torso.  Nothing to really want to go back and finish though. 

Miss S returns to the fold

and here are her gesture poses.

It felt as though this model hadn't been away for a couple of years or more.  She's fun to draw and has been doing this long enough that we never worry how things'll work out up on the stand.

Dark study

Always have fun drawing Mr. J's noggin.  Really enjoy the heavy blacks.

Final sketch of the night

Lotsa stuff goin' on here.  Just not sure it makes sense.  I started to get into the rendering of the right hand, making it more mass than detail.  I kinda like that.

Another heavy handed sketch

A theme for the evening.  I like aspects of this style but it ends up being too impressionist for me and less about the beautiful details.