One of my favorite models from back in the day

 

Lady L is long gone from our stable of terrific models.  I hope she's doing well in the real world.  I would truly love to draw her again.  I guess I have to be satisfied with the sketches.

Well, hell!

 No model tonight.  No more drawing for 2021.  Merry Christmas, indeed.  Truly hope 2022 is a Happy New Year.

Gustav and Egon would love Erin

 Erin has that kind of figure that Klimt and Schiele loved.  I don't have the sensibility of Schiele but truly appreciate Klimt and his body of work.  Erin would make a perfect model for an homage piece one day.

Gestures of Erin

 Skinny Puppy one minute at a time.

Unfinished but finding her face

I was happy with the session mostly because I was able to capture her likeness pretty consistently.

What's on her mind?

 Miss B being all pensive and stuff.

A little slumped

 Starting to enjoy this loose treatment of the vine charcoal.  Miss B is a great subject for this kind of technique.  Fewer lines and more shapes.

Head study

 First drawing after the gestures.  Kinda set the tone for the evening which culminated in one of my favorite sketches since we got back to work.  I'll post that later this week.

Gestures of Miss B

 Miss B flows effortlessly in her gestures and it makes it a joy to sketch.  Pretty decent session as I am pretty happy with most of the drawings.  It culminated in a nice long pose.  It's taken quite a long time to get back into a consistent rhythm with my drawings but I think last night I was doing fairly well.  Of course we will have to take a break with Thanksgiving and I hope that doesn't slow down my progress.

Long pose

 Finally got to put a head onto the figure.  This one has a long way to go, though.

Getting lost in the details

 So many fun lines to work with that it leaves no time to put a head on the figure.  I know, a shock, right?!

No knees but almost an elbow

 Erin has so many interesting landmarks, for lack of a better term, that an artist can just get lost in all of the lines and shapes.  She creates some fascinating challenges, at least for me.  It's great that she is back.

Knees and no elbows

 I could have worked on these shapes nearly the entire session.  Too short... obviously.

Gestures of Skinny Puppy

We got a long time model back.  It's been about 3 years since Erin graced our model stand and it was a pleasure to have her back.  Great poses, as usual.  Looking forward to having her back again.
 

Long pose

 Enjoyed many aspects of this pose.  Wish it were, go figure, longer.  Still, pretty happy with the "finished" product.

Captain Morgan... kinda

 Solid start to this study.  Lot's of shapes that could become something.  I like the simple lines used on her head.  This pose just gave me some great mass to work with and showing the relations between the shoulders and how they support the torso.  I really wanted to get into the strong shadows but...

Head study

 Quick sketch to try and get a sense of Ashleigh's features as they relate to her oversize glasses and that scarf.

All knees and elbows

 Hard to believe I spent the entire 10 minutes to get just this much.  Slowin' down in my old age...

Gestures of Ashleigh

 

A great group last night to draw Lady A.  Here are the gestures.  She took some really nice poses that unfortunately were only a minute long.  Have I ever mentioned the problem I have with a lack of time?  Maybe someday I'll go on (and on and on and ...) bout it.

Just got hung up on the hip

I forced myself to rough in the left side of her torso as I just wanted to concentrate on her hip and legs.  The way the shadows rolled over her left leg and how her right leg created so much depth.  Just a lot of fun to draw with no worries about the finished drawing (as you can tell).

A bit abstract

 I just fell for the strong shadows and made the mistake of removing the line work delineating her back.  Perhaps just indicating a mouth would help.  Still, I had fun drawing this one.

Just didn't get into the flow of this one

 Not sure where this was going.  Just an opportunity gone wrong.

Cast shadows

 Quick sketch to start the night.  Not a lot to work with so I focused on cast shadows.  Started to get some form going here.

Gestures of Miss B

 

Kind of a mess... but that's the point, right?  Just to loosen up and get a flow going, get ones mind in the right place.

Ashleigh in repose

 The long pose gave me the opportunity to push the body art and incorporate it into my art.  Ran out of time to do the upper chest tattoo and that threw off placing her collarbone but I still enjoyed this.  Pretty happy with how her head turned out.  Yeah, a fun piece.

Specs and ponytail

 Just starting to get a feel for how to incorporate her tattoos into the drawings.

This one vexed me

 I should have just left out her midsection, it would have made for a sleeker image.  I really had high hopes for this when I sat down to draw this pose.  Another five minutes would have made a difference but it was time to move on to a new pose so I left most of the mistakes uncorrected.

Symmetry

 Well, almost symmetry... should have gotten the left arm into the drawing.  Spent a lot of time rendering the bicep and <gasp> ran out of time.

Gestures of Ashleigh

 Pretty good night.  These gestures are a little heavy handed but I just needed to get my arm loosened up.  It all came together with the last drawing of the night.  I'll post that Thursday as I take you through the arduous journey of the evening the next four posts.  (Like I always do, just feeling a little gabby today...)

Venus de Milo has no arms...

 ...often my sketches have no heads.  Correlation?  Nope.  Just run out of time far too often.

 Loved the way M. B rested her head on her shoulder and the weight that rests on her arm.  An okay start to this but so much more could be done.

Got hung up on the knees

 I really enjoy the shapes created by knees, at least to draw.  Lots of fun. 

Super sketchy back drawing of M. B

 I like the simplicity of this.  Not a lot of shape but some fun lines.

Gesture drawings of M. B

 

I really enjoyed the quick sketches this week.  B takes some great, dynamic poses that I wish we could turn into longer drawings.  Wouldn't be nice for her, though.  I think I finally have gotten the hang of working with our newest model.  I look forward to more Black Hand sessions with Madame B as our muse.

The long pose

 This had the makings of something decent.  Would love to explore the modeling of her face through shadows and light.  The pose feels weighty and real.  This would benefit from another couple hours but, alas, that ain't happn'n.  Coulda, shoulda...

Quick head study

 Still searching for a handle on the model.  Simple lines but it just doesn't feel right. 

First attempt at Madame B

 It often takes me a few sketches (even sessions) to get past the uniqueness of the model and see just the shapes.  The same is true with our newest model.  I'm looking forward to getting to the point of comfort where I don't try for an absolute likeness (too limited amount of time) and go for the bigger picture.

Trying to find the interest in this pose

 This was a tough one for me to do.  The lighting was all wrong and I struggled to make something out of this one.  I failed.