Drawing Model Alexx

Recently, I had the good fortune to get to draw model Alexx, who modeled for the Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup's live sessions prior to the pandemic.  She held beautiful poses.  Many thanks to Alexx for the inspiration!

Chiaroscuro with Model Shannon

 

With the number of Covid-19 cases in our area decreasing, we have been able to invite a different model out to my studio for Osher class each week.  Last Friday, we were fortunate to have model Shannon, who held strong, active gestural poses for us to warm up with.

I invited my students to sketch with their non-dominant hand on some of their gesture drawings to loosen up their work and break out of old habits. Even though it felt strange, I was pleased with the results in my drawings.

After gestures, we moved on to a 15-minute, cropped pose that focused on Shannon's muscular back & torso.

We finished up class with an hour-long pose, broken into 25-minute segments.  

We used bold, chiaroscuro lighting and took the subtractive approach to drawing her, starting with  vine charcoal rubbed over the drawing paper to lay in a mid-tone, and then lifting out areas of highlight with a kneaded eraser.  I sketched in a gesture with vine charcoal, then used compressed charcoal to finish my drawing and make it permanent.

Many thanks to model Shannon!

Art for Self-Care: Painting Trees

 

I sat outside on a gorgeous spring evening -- the Eastern Bluebirds warbling from this grand old Cucumber Tree.  I had been feeling anxious about an upcoming doctor's visit, and reached for my paints and brushes to ground & calm myself. 

Sketching the scene, connecting with the stalwart old tree and her new friend springing up among the raspberries tuned me into the essence of the tree -- her vitality, her strength and her ability to weather every storm.  Healing.

Of course, there was a moment at the outset when I felt like the painting would never work, and I'd end up with wasted paper, but I pushed through that.  I've learned that even if I create a painting I don't want to frame, I always learn something from immersing myself in creativity, and there's always some part of the painting I feel really happy about.

At the end, I did like this painting. And I felt so much calmer.  

And the doctor's visit the next day turned out fine -- better than I had imagined.

I find it helpful to have a stack of smaller pieces of watercolor paper that I can experiment with tucked into the backpack I tote my watercolors outdoors in.  I painted this scene on a 6" x 7-3/4" paper sample from St. Cuthberts Mill.  I bought a variety of watercolor paper samples with an order of other supplies.  Paper samples don't cost much, and they're freeing to create with.  

I hope you can find peace and grounding by sketching, painting or even just sitting with a friendly tree.  

Happy Spring!

Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup Open Studio with Emily

 
We had a wonderful open studio session on Sunday afternoon with model Emily.  She held lovely poses and was a delight to draw.  I had fun with colored pencils!

You can see more drawing from the event here: https://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-Figure-Drawing/photos/31320874/495301533/

Figure Drawing with Model Red

 

We had a great Osher class session with new model Red.  Our project this week was to study foreshortening, so we began with wrapped line gesture drawings, imagining that our charcoal was charting the path of an ant traveling over the contours of Red's form.

I find that this approach frees us up to really study the model, and explore the landscape of the human form.

We began adding a touch of shading on the wrapped line gestures to give some dimension. 

This practice set us up for a study of foreshortening, sketching Red's arm as he moved it incrementally inwards towards the camera.

We finished up with a long seated pose for the final hour of the session.  Inspiring!

Sketching Trees

Lately, I've been enjoying the warming weather, the sunshine and the songs of bluebirds out in my local state park.  I've found that studying the structure of trees is easiest right now while they are still bare of leaves, and I can really get into bark texture and other details.  

I began the painting above with this sketch in my nature journal.

And, I came back to the same field the next day, and painted this young oak tree, still clinging to her leaves.

Canopy branches can feel confusing and hard to follow at this level of detail. I find that focusing in on the part of the scene that intrigues me yields the best results.  In this case, the main trunk and lower branches:

One thing that painting these scenes has taught me is to simplify my painting, and focus on the larger forms & values in the landscape.  Simplifying the color scheme to just a few colored pencils or pans of paint also helps to create more unity.  As Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify ..."

 

Osher Figure Drawing with Kathryn

I taught my first class of the Spring semester yesterday, and model Kathryn Zapalo joined us in the studio. It was fabulous to work in person with a model again, and to have Kathryn's bright energy to inspire us all.  My students created beautiful works!  You can see their drawings on the Osher class page of my blog here.

To warm up, we started with simple mass gestures, drawing with the side of our charcoals.

Then we switched gears and created abstract, 5-Line gesture drawings.

And, we finished up with a 15-minute pose, and a 40-minute pose.  

What an uplifting way to spend a Friday morning!

 

Art for Self-Care: Art Journaling

 
I recently began following The Unexpected Gypsy on YouTube and Patreon.  Her willingness to share her art process and to speak authentically about her life & emotions has inspired me, taught me new techniques, and encouraged me to trust my own creative process. As a result, I have created an art journal.  I relish my time listening to music, sipping tea, and playing with colors in my journal.

For the longest time I resisted art journaling, thinking, "I have a nature journal, a gratitude journal, a writing journal, and lots of materials for art-making, why should I add one more journal?"

Here's why: I am free to create anything I want in my art journal.  I don't have to share any of it, and because it is dedicated specifically to uncovering my own true self -- my creativity, my ideas, my dreams, my struggles, and the images my soul needs to express -- new types of art pop out. 

Sometimes it's just quotes that speak to me and give me a starting place to play with designs & materials.  But often, I find that I start with colors and shapes, like this liquid watercolor painting on gesso.

And then other ideas rise up -- here I added white acrylic paint and white gel pen. Each added layer uncovers more within me. I'm learning to trust my intuition as I create.  

Playing is vital to creative development in any art, and this new art journal has become my playground.  

I recommend finding a blank journal or sketch book to turn into your own art journal and creative playground!

Figure Drawing Friday Night with Lady Poser

Model Kathryn Zapalo introduced me to a Toronto, Canada model who works under the name Lady Poser & holds Zoom Open Studio sessions.  I attended her Friday, March 5th session and was impressed with her professionalism, creativity and pose diversity.  

You can see Lady Poser's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/mynudefigure/   

We began with quick gestures of 1,2, & 3 minutes.  I drew those with a Sharpie on brown craft paper.

I switched to drawing with Conte crayon for the 4-,5-, & 6-minute poses and beyond.

About halfway through, LP changed outfits into a flowy, floral dress and hat.

She finished up with a portrait pose.

I wished I could have been there in person to draw her.  The laptop camera she used didn't capture tonal values very well, and fine detail was limited.  

Aside from the technical limitations, she really put her heart into her work and brought the inspiration!  My thanks to Lady Poser.