Osher Figure Drawing with Model Amelia

We kicked off our Osher at CMU Spring Figure Drawing class with model Amelia.

The variety, creativity and strength in Amelia's poses inspired us to draw quickly to capture as much as we could before the timer sounded and we moved on. 

Something magical happens when a model engages their creativity and works as a co-creator in a drawing session.  Everyone is uplifted.  It's a rare experience, and one we, the artists, are grateful for.  It leaves me feeling sparkly.

Here are some of my 2- and 3-minute gesture drawings.

We did a series of 5-line drawings, allowing ourselves only 5 lines to express the entire pose.  I always find that assignment challenging, but it pushes me to explore new ideas.  I like my abstracted 5-line drawings the best.

We took a break, and then moved on to 20-minute poses.

My sincere thanks to model Amelia for her hard work and creativity!

Figure Drawing with Model Tiffany

We kicked off a new semester of figure drawing at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CMU with model Tiffany.

Her beautiful poses got us back into the flow of drawing with a series of gestures.

We began by turning our charcoals on their sides and drawing with big, swoopy marks and lines.

We changed to a more abstract approach, and created 5-line drawings, allowing ourselves only 5 lines to tell the story of Tiffany's pose.

Like a Haiku poem, the limitation of lines forced each artist to find the most expressive marks possible.

At first, my 5-line drawings felt inept and childish, but soon a flow took over, and I really liked this final one.

All of these gestures prepared us for a beautiful long pose.

Having an inspiring model makes all the difference in the world, and Tiffany's poses swept us away into the joy of drawing an expressive figure.  Many thanks to model Tiffany!

Osher Figure Drawing with Amelia

Model Amelia started off our Osher Figure Drawing fall semester with a beautiful series of gesture poses that inspired the whole class.  Here are a few of my drawings of her artful poses.

Many thanks, Amelia!

Osher Figure Drawing with Model David

 

Once again, a scheduled model couldn't make it to our home studio for an Osher class -- this time due to work calling the model in at the last minute.  David came to the rescue and served as our model.

We started with 3-minute gestures.

As David created more abstract poses, I was drawn to expressing them with blind contour.

For this crouched, egg-shaped pose, I used blind contour exclusively.

All warmed up, we moved into long poses. David began with a standing 20-minute pose.

After a break, we finished up with an hour-long pose.

Many thanks to model David for rescuing the class again!