Many Thanks to our Osher Models!

Our Osher Figure Drawing classes have wrapped up, and I feel tremendous gratitude to the models, like Robin (above), who inspired, challenged, strengthened, and uplifted us with their work.  

I see our models -- like Selena (below) -- as co-creators in the art studio. They express their creativity through their poses, bringing us inspiration and ideas.

Our models' work tells stories, and we artists participate in the stories by illustrating what we see.  Here, model Emily (below) in her flower crown, looks to me like a goddess of Spring.

And model Rikki lies on a beach in the sunshine in my mind's eye.

Many thanks to our amazing models!  I feel grateful to have gotten the opportunity to create with them. 

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!

With Gratitude to Our Osher Figure Drawing Models

In the late fall, I teach a figure drawing class for Osher at CMU.  Class recently concluded, and I have been reflecting on the inspiration my models bring to us. 

Every model brought a unique collection of gesture & long poses, each pose telling a story. 

One model shared with me that she was inspired by the full moon that had risen the night before, and as she held a standing, stretching pose, she pictured holding the moon in her arms. 

Her imagination crafted an elegant pose, and the artists could feel her creative energy uplifting us as we drew.

Our Osher models are performance artists, like dancers, yet their dance is stilled motion. 

I admire how our models are co-creators in our drawings.  Their imagination and hard work inspires our sketches and long drawings. 

Many thanks to all our models.  Their work is the foundation of our work.

My figure drawing class met weekly for 5 weeks.  I began class with a slide show for inspiration, and we moved on to gesture drawings to warm up.  Our model held a long pose of about an hour, and we drew with charcoal or pastels.  We finished each class with an art show, admiring the artists' works.

If you're interested in learning more about Osher at CMU, and how you can register for classes, you can learn more here: https://www.cmu.edu/osher/about/index.html

Happy Creating!

Osher Figure Drawing: Cowgirl Rising

Recently, my Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class at CMU was fortunate to get to draw model Robin.  We took inspiration from artist Donna Howell-Sickles, who creates mixed media paintings of cowgirls.

Robin took on the role of Howell-Sickles' cowgirl in her poses, expressing pluck and strength.

My class experimented with using bold colors in our artworks, as Donna Howell-Sickles does in her paintings. And we practiced drawing a 4-minute gesture of Robin's long pose on newsprint before creating our final drawings on good paper.

Here are David's drawings, first the 4-minute gesture:

...and his final drawing:

I love how he used his red pastel to dramatic effect.  Using a color in more than one spot in your composition helps to connect the elements of the artwork, creating unity.

Many thanks to model Robin for an inspiring drawing session!

If you'd like to see more of Donna Howell-Sickles' art, check out her website here:

https://www.donnahowellsickles.com/

Happy Creating!

Figure Drawing with Model Selena

 We finished our Osher semester with model Selena and a focus on Dance and Movement.  We began with 6 x 2-minute gesture poses, grouping them together on our paper in 3's to represent 3 dancers in motion.

Selena gave us graceful, dancerly poses.

Next, we challenged ourselves with a 2-minute, continuous gesture. Selena moved slowly but constantly from one pose to another, and used a long, flowy piece of tulle to help express her movement.  

It was hard to try to complete one full gesture drawing of Selena in any pose, but we watched mindfully as we drew, and relied on our memory to complete each gesture.

Though the end drawing looks scribbly and imperfect, the process of drawing this continuous gesture sharpened our skills and exercised our visual memory.

We wrapped up our gestures with a 5-minute upside-down pose.

After a break, we moved on to the long drawing, beginning with a 4-minute sketch to determine how we wanted to lay out our final drawing.

I was glad I took the time to lay out my drawing, as I realized exactly where I wanted Selena's body to land on the page to give her space to look up, creating the composition I wanted.

Many thanks to model Selena for her beautiful poses and inspiration!

Storytelling with Model Elizabeth

Our Osher Figure Drawing class was fortunate to have model Elizabeth as our collaborator in artful storytelling in our most recent class.

We looked at the art of John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), a British Pre-Raphaelite painter whose artwork took myths, the poetry of Keats and stories of contemporary authors as their subjects.  His work was rich with detail and color.  We set out in class to tell our own stories with studies of Elizabeth's elegant poses.

We began with 2 minute gestures.

In each pose, I could imagine a story being told of picking fruit from an apple tree,

or of listening dreamily to a story being told.

Perhaps now she was reaching into a pond for a magical crystal.

Here, she seemed to be admiring a lover or watching the stars.

And now, she was being coy with her fan at a party.

We moved on to a long pose, and took the first 4 minutes to create a quick gesture of that pose to help us in composing our drawings.

Elizabeth held a silk rose to her breast and several more draped at her feet.

For my final drawing, I imagined Elizabeth dreaming of her true love in a rose garden, escaping the summer heat in a shady patch on tasselled brocade pillows.

Isn't it amazing how we can infer a story from another person's posture?  

Elizabeth's imagination and elegance swept the class away into a land of stories and creativity.

Many thanks to our inspiring model, Elizabeth!

Figure Drawing with Model Ryan

For our second Osher Figure Drawing class, I brought in India ink, brushes and dip pens to play with sketching the figure in ink.  The challenge of ink, of course, is that you can't erase anything.  But this is also the beauty of ink.  It pushes you to commit to the strokes and marks you put down.  I find that facet freeing.

Our theme for the class was "Men at Work," so our model Ryan held gesture poses representing hoeing a garden...

...lifting blocks...

... and carrying them to build a wall.

In his last gesture pose, I imagined Ryan as a shepherd watching over his sheep from the shade of a tree. I added the background details after class.

In his long, seated pose, I found that being pushed to commit to marks made my process much faster, so I had extra time.

I took the opportunity to practice drawing Ryan's hand in light and shadow with a water-soluble pencil. I love the combination of being able to draw details and move the pigment with a brush.

Many thanks to model Ryan for his "Men at Work" poses!