Osher Figure Drawing Class with Model Amelia

 We started a new session of Osher Figure Drawing class last Friday morning, and Amelia brought us a wonderfully creative mix of poses.  

We started with 2-minute mass gestures, and I asked my students to use the side of their charcoal to capture shapes and masses within Amelia's body.  I find this approach keeps us from focusing merely on the outer contours, and more on the form. 

We moved on to 3-minute gestures, and used the extra minute to capture shadows and a few contour lines.

Changing gears, we took an abstract approach to Amelia's form, and selected 5 lines to capture the pose in just one minute.

There's a wonderful feeling of focusing, trying to express the whole figure in a minimum of lines, vacillating between descriptive contours and more structural or "summing up" lines, then stepping back to see what you created.  At first, it feels hard and unsuccessful, but then you start creating amazing expressions of universal human themes -- in this case, earthy femininity.

We moved on to a 15-minute standing pose.

And finished out the class with a 45 minute seated pose, with a break in the middle for Amelia to stretch.

It's good to be back to drawing with my students again.  

Many thanks to Amelia for keeping us inspired with her amazing, dynamic poses!