Now this was fun

 I really enjoyed working on this one.  It really plays to my interests, the delicate lines and the shaping of the masses with lines more than shading.  This was fun and I'd have loved to had a couple of hours with this pose.

A bit of Sepia doodling

 Working with these pencils has certainly slowed me down.  But in a good way, I think.   I'm not as interested getting a full figure done in the tiny time frame available.  I've been looking at a lot of artist's work on-line and I've been wondering if I'm not giving myself enough permission to really time my time and explore each piece.  Tiny steps...

Lyra pencil sketch

 I went to Art's and picked up some Lyra colored pencils to try and match the bistre and sepia conte sticks I've been so fond of.  I intended to pop some nice, tight lines into the heavy handed stick-work I have been doing.  Turns out I spent more time noodling than I did smudging. 

A couple of quick charcoal sketches

 

Last night's gestures

 

The best of the lot

The fifteen minutes I got to spend on this just wasn't enough.  This was starting to come into its own.  Lovely light and shadow and some great drapery.  I enjoyed working on this one.

Bended knee

 So many really fun shapes to explore and when the time ran out I had a nice little abstract study.  I like it, though.

Okay, the long (and disappointing) pose

 

This looks like a Frankenstein drawing.  By themselves, the pieces look decent.  Thrown together and it just looks like I had already started drinking.  I should have started over but sometimes I just plow ahead and think I can pull it out.  Not this time.

Ah, what could have been...

 A ten minute drawing that barely came to life.  I wish this had been twice as long (at least).

Some gestures (obviously)

 Lady S in a few 60 second poses.  Smaller group last night.  I think I did okay (you be the judge as these roll out over the next week) but I did disappoint myself with the long pose. 

A little quick study

 Probably the most successful sketch of the night.  A bit heavy handed, though.

Long pose

 This was a challenging pose.  For me, the only thing that worked was the left forearm.  Mr. B's body is so angular that relying on anatomical knowledge can only go so far.  When dealing with a unique body type problems are inevitable.  More time is needed to nail all of the variations that this pose presented.  As always.

Another head study

 As a drawing, this looks better.  As a likeness... nope.  Still struggling.

Quick head study

 I've been having a tough time capturing Mr. B's likeness.  Great features that I just can't pull together.  It's frustrating.

Mr. B. returns for another round

Gestures of Mr. B.  Those poses would have been nice to have been longer.  Alas, the nature of the game.
 

Long pose that was a problem

 This pose, by its very nature, was inevitably going to change.  The weight on his right arm was always going to shift the position over the course of 45 minutes. I should have recognized this and worked on that arm at the start.  Alas, I didn't do the smart thing.  Still, there are several aspects to this sketch that I really am happy with.

Shadow and Light

 Strong cast shadow makes this my favorite.  So much fun to play with.

Just a head study

 A start to a drawing that will go no further.  Too bad.

Arm study

 Five minute sketch.  Nuthin' special.

Gestures of Mr. M

 Okay... gestures.

Shadows...

 ...and light.  Mass and lost edges.  This one makes me happy (ish).

The long pose but not my favorite

 Too many areas started and only a few finished to my liking.  Just a study, not even close to being a decent finished piece.

Aaarrrghh!

Not enough time!!!!! I say it all of the "time"...  This was coming together and I had to call it! 
 

Thumbs are a challenge

 

That opposable digit is always a challenge.

geStureS

 Lady S.  What can I say...

Okay, this worked

 So much going on in this pose and I think I only scratched the surface.  10 minutes could easily have turned into a couple of hours in order to really get all I wanted from this one.

Agony

 I could not, for the life of me, get his mouth drawn correctly.  Frustrating!

Five minutes and...

 ... I just didn't attack this one correctly.  Common for me when I have a brand new model.  I have to sit back and see the model as a set of shapes, not a person.  I'll get there if we are lucky enough to have Mr. B make some return appearances.

Probably my favorite sketch of the night

 It may have only been 5 minutes but I'm pretty pleased with how this came out.

New model, new set of gestures

 Mr. B., our newest model, made a grand entrance and we had a very great evening of drawing.

Fave of the evening

 This may have only been 15 minutes but it was my best effort of the night.  A deceptively complex pose to work with.  However, if I had more time I may have made some decisions that would have made this a lesser drawing in my eyes.  Quite happy with this one.

Long pose in repose

 We had about 40 minutes or so to get this one down and I spent a lot of that time modeling the lower body.  The shapes and mass really caught my attention and I think the rest of the drawing suffered for it.

More shadows...

 

...but in conté!  I do enjoy the strong edges some shadows afford.  Not to mention the way the form bleeds into the drapery.  I didn't start working on the head until the last couple of minutes of this 15 minutes sketch.

Shadows

 

A little shadow study for the first five minute sketch of the night.  Some fun shapes to work with in this one and I would love to have done this for another 5 or even 10 minutes, just to see where it went.

Gestures from a full house

 We had a great group last night.  Lady S knocked it out of the park (as usual) up on the stage.  I've been fighting insomnia for a few weeks now so I'm not sure I was fully engaged but I gave it a try.

Conté redux

 At last, a sketch I'm pretty much okay with.  I'm happy with the lost edges and the edges that merge into shadow.  The play of the figure against the fabric was a lot of fun to do.

Back in black

 Finally, a drawing I am happy(ish) with.  Coulda used a few more minutes...

Back in red

 Shoulda started this a bit further to the right side of the paper.  Poor planning.

Imcomplete studies

 A couple of conté studies.  The top one was on newsprint and the other on bond paper.

Gestures on newsprint

It's been a minute since I used newsprint.  This stuff had a tooth to it and I used to use end rolls from the Gazette which were considerably slicker. This was kinda fun...