So many shapes!

 Oh boy, look at all of those fun shapes to render!  Sure, I know I over emphasized shape below her breast but, c'mon... it was sooooo much fun to just work that interesting bit of anatomy to the nth degree.  If I ever choose to go back in on this one I may dial it down a bit.  But only after I get her head drawn in and see how much I need to reduce to make it all balance out.

Ah... foreshortening!

 I love working with a figure in perspective.  To me it is far more interesting as a finished piece and definitely actually drawing the pose.  Obviously I didn't have too much time to work on this hence the lack of shins and a head and a left arm...

Back to conté

 Conté just makes it all look so much better.  The tones are just a joy to work with.  The conté I'm working with these days just doesn't feel or respond like the old stuff from what, 30 years ago?  Still, it makes so-so drawings look a lot better than they probably actually are.

Heavy handed treatment

 This pose deserved a gentler treatment but I had not warmed up well enough so it came out pretty heavy handed.

Gestures of Lady P to start the end of Twenty Three

 A few quick gestures sketches to get the hand into it.  This led to a nice, relaxed evening of drawing.  The rest will follow next week.  Have a great weekend.

Long pose with Mr. M

 Finally, one I can be relatively happy with.  I would really like to have had another15 - 20 minutes with this one but I'm okay with where it ended.

Leaning against a box

 

An okay study.  I think I just like the little bit of cast shadow above his waist.  Not much more than that.

Just a study

 I think I was trying to channel my inner Fechin once I knocked in the hand and forearm.  It just reminds me of those insanely great Nicholai Fechin drawings of hands and arms.  Not that this reaches those levels but just the feel of the line and shading.  Anyhow, I enjoyed it well enough to not go any further into the drawing and just be happy where I ended up.

Mr. M in red

 Eh, I wasted a perfectly good pose with this effort.  I had over exaggerated the arm musculature and had to thin it up.  I notice that it takes me a bit longer to warm up and settle into the practice of drawing what I know so well.  Not sure if I'm distracted by trying to make the room work for the whole group or if I haven't decompressed from the work day.  I hate making mistakes (in general) but especially when I have a limited amount of time and I have to go back and redo something I should have taken a couple extra moments to block in correctly.

Gestures of Mr. M

The gestures from our penultimate 2023 season.  It's been great to have gotten Mr. M into our stable of models.  We hope to continue working with him and our other wonderful muses in 2024 and beyond.
 

The long pose

 45 minutes.  Still not enough time.  Sucks gettin' old and not being able to get everything done like I used to.  <sigh>

Gettin' a leg up

 This pose was a challenge for me with only 15 minutes to work with.  So I chose to focus on aspects of the figure rather than worry about the entire figure.

That hip!

 This was sooooo much fun to draw.  Look at those shapes!  Those shadows!  The pose!  Wow, just a blast to work on.  I only wish it were a longer drawing.  15 minutes is just too short to do this justice.

Sittin' pretty, again

 Pretty rough sketch but I'm kinda partial to the head and right knee.  Hey, ya gotta take what ya can.

Gestures of Lady P

 It sure felt good to get back to life drawing.  Here are the gestures from the session with Lady P.

A bit more of a serious Santa

 Less of a fun Claus and more of a "I think you're on my Naughty List" Santa.

Just gimme that wink

 Santa being a bit sly.

Frosty

 This was a little 2x3 that I thought turned out quite fun.  Kinda have to see it in a frame to appreciate it.

Thanksgiving wiped out The Black Hand Group, so...

...I'll post a few more of the Christmas sketches that are currently up for sale at Roots.

Measure twice, draw once

 I should have taken that advice.  So many false starts and so so finishes.  This one should have turned out better.  Sometimes things just don't go as planned and I knew I should have put this aside and start a new drawing.  Being bull headed sometimes just doesn't pay.

Let there be light

 This was a really nicely lit pose.  Made for a fun study.  Only ten minutes to get it all down, though.  Made for some focused decisions.  That's not a bad thing.

Probably my best effort of the night

 I wish this had been the long sitting.  Although if it were, I might have finished the arms and other aspects.  I think I like this just the way it is.

Sometimes it just doesn't work

 This one was just a meandering mess.  About the only thing that works is the chair.

Head study

 Quick little study of Lady S.  Pretty happy with the likeness.

Gestures of Lady S

 Last session before Thanksgiving break.  Just a few gestures before we got started.

45 minutes of great lighting

 The highlights.  What else is there to say?  Just such a great pose to work from.

Stretch

 Sometimes the human body surprises me.  That bit of latissimus dorsi looks odd, but it was so interesting that I may have gone a little overboard with the shadow.

Torso study

 Another pose that deserved far more time and attention.  Just the time to get the left arm and shoulder correct, especially with the way it crosses over his right thigh.  Great tension in this pose.  Really deserved more time.

Quick (unfinished) back study

 Not enough time to get this to the point I wanted.  Still, I love getting lost in the details.

Gestures of Mr. M

We let our model determine the length of each pose.  Some were only 30-40 seconds, others about 2 minutes.  A great way to do gestures, not knowing how long you have so you need to determine what's important to capture as it may not be there in the next moment.  I may try to implement that for the regular drawings.
 

Conté strikes again!

Long pose and the only one I was happy with.  Very dramatic lighting created some pretty cool shadows and highlights.  This was fun to work on and worth the struggle with the other images.

Another bistre conté drawing

 I wish I had used a charcoal pencil for this one.  I needed some delicate lines and I just wasn't getting it with this conté crayon.  Alas, twas not in the cards...

Bistre conté drawing

 A bistre conté crayon sketch.  I really got held up on her upper back and shoulders.  Would like to have gotten to her right foot.

Two techniques in one

 I did the figure first and then started the head and face.  I wish I had worked the torso in the same smudgy style that I used for her head.

Gestures of the Lady P

 A decent evening of drawing.  I'll post the results starting Monday.

The most fun image I did

 The show consists of 18 framed drawings, two framed oil sketches and one canvas tapestry (like the witches and ravens I did for the Fall shows).  This is the most whimsical image I did.  Mounted in a simple red, small profile table frame, this drawing gives Santa the feel that he's pressing his face against a window while checking to see if the good little boys and girls left him his fee of cookies and milk.

A little oil sketch

 Leyendecker oil copy on a small 5x7 canvas.  Love playing with the simple strokes and big shapes.

A "real" Santa

 I combined what I've learned from Leyendecker and Sundblom and applied it to a photo of an actor playing Santa.  Pretty happy with the result.

Another Santa

 Another favorite copy.  I say copy because, and I make no bones about it, most of my drawings are from existing illustrations of the great Joseph Christian Leyendecker and Haddon Sundblom.  I do reference photos for some but I tend to fall into giving the people what they are comfortable with, which are familiar versions of Santa.  Leyendecker and Sundblom (the Coca-Cola Santa creator) are, in my opinion, the best of those that gave us the most wonderful Santa Claus illustrations.

No life drawing last week so I'll share some of the stuff I'm doing for a holiday show at Roots

 

This is a little 5x7 in charcoal and conte.  Probably my favorite sketch this year.  This and the others I'll show on the blog this week will be available at Roots, (2147 Poly Drive, Billings, MT) starting Thursday, November 2.  I'll be there for a bit until I run off to do more figure drawing that evening.

The usual long pose to end the night

 Sure, long poses in an atelier would be two days or a week, but we just ain't got that kinda time.  So 45 minutes constitutes our extended sittings.  One learns to focus when there is so little time to work.

Loved this pose

 The little angle of her left leg made all the difference to this pose.  Only had 12 minutes so decisions were made.

Miss P is such a hipster

 Simple large shapes.  Subtle shading.  Satisfying.

Not much of a drawing but a fun study

 I really lost myself in the delicate line work and subtle shading required to render this leg.  Maybe nothing you want to hang on your wall but this was a lot of fun to render.

Slumping on the job

 Miss P really tries to give the artists artistic poses.  For some of us, it's graceful stances.  For others it's simple and easy poses.  For me, I like digging into interesting details.  The way shapes relate to each other and form mass and tension.