Lady P leans into it

 With Thursday nights session I kinda got caught up in shapes more than the full figure (until the last one...).  I was enjoying getting the sense of mass and tension.

Sunday Portrait Session

 Thank you to Nathan for stepping in when our scheduled model couldn't make it.  Thanks to Kevin for putting this together.  Fun session.  Normally we try to do just one drawing/painting over the course of a single sitting but I just kept getting restless and moved from easel to easel.  This was the second drawing of the session.  I had a lot of fun with the shadows cast by his glasses.

Fourth time's a charm

 

The latest gestures of Lady P.  She pretty much owned January for us.  Very grateful.

The long pose in the funky chair

 I love working with the so-called "Funky Chair".  It creates some really nice perspectives to draw from.  The shadows worked very nicely on her face.  I was allotted 45 minutes to do this and could use another 45 or more to really bring this one home.

One more lens...

 I just need to finish her specs and this will be a pretty nice little sketch.  I really like the work in her right arm.  Simple and sparse yet effective.

Lower body study

 Pretty basic study of Lady P's midriff and her lower torso.  This could have been a nice little drawing if... yep, you guessed it... I had more time.

Twisted sister

 I really wish Lady P could have held this for 15 - 30 minutes.  Would love to have dug into this pose and really explored the twist of her midsection and lower back.

The gestures of the third session with Lady P

 These are the one minute sketches we start every session with.  If the others would be open to it I'd love to do an entire session of nothing but gestures.  Probably be a bit tough on the model to keep coming up with poses, though.

The long pose that turned into a bribe...

 This drawing is going to the model so that we can secure her for our next session.

Red leg

 I saw that knee and knew I had to draw it.  I switched locations and grabbed my charcoal pencil and thought, no... I need to render this in conté!  I grabbed the only terra cotta piece I had and, to my utter dismay, found that it was not a piece of true conté!  It was that pastel / chalk / less than authentic chunk of disappointment!  A wasted opportunity.  It was such a great knee...

A little shoulder

 Really liked what was going on with her right shoulder and scapula.  Five minutes ain't a whole lot of time, though.

Some gestures of a patient model

 Just gestures.  Move along...

45 minutes and I was able to put her face in

 Boy, this one really ran me through the wringer.  Couldn't get her head proportionate to the figure I had already blocked in and done some significant work on.  I think I pulled it together in the end although there are more than a few areas I'd love to have had more time to work out.  C'est la vie.

No face

 I took a little grief from someone I have never met about my choice of what to draw from this pose.  So be it, if I want to focus on the wrist that's my call!

Back to gettin' all smudgy

 Unlike yesterday's post this one goes all in on trying to find shapes with the shadows and a bit o' line work.

Trying to find the volume

 Working the lines to find mass and volume.  I love doing all of the smudging and such to make the drawing 'pop' and approach the look of 'real'.  However, there is something so satisfying with capturing a sense of weight and shape with just lines.

The first gestures of 2023

 Lady P started us off right with a number of nice poses.  A pretty full house made for a great way to start the new year.

Some stuff from... whenever

 

Now, let's try and get some new stuff done!

Some stuff from 2017

 

Some stuff from 2016

 Mining the old 'uns until we have a new session.