Osher Figure Drawing with Model Hector

 

Last Friday, we were swept away by model Hector, who held elegant, dancerly poses, and inspired us with a dramatic winter set, including a crown & scepter that he created for the long pose.

I invited my students to try wet media this week, suggesting a single color for the gestures, and watercolors for the long pose.

We began with 3-minute gesture poses to warm up, and  I used India ink in two tones. Using the lighter tone, I began with a mass gesture painting, then touched in bolder contours and shadows with undiluted ink.

I experimented with more expressive marks in the last gesture pose.

After our gesture warm-up, we switched to watercolor paints, and practiced mixing skin tones in preparation for the long pose. 

Hector crafted a winter woodland set with a snowy forest floor, blue drifts of fabric, and an inspiring backdrop to sweep us away to the storybook land of the Snow King of the Enchanted Woods.

Note his staff on the far left of the photograph below.

I sketched in the scene using a 2B graphite pencil, then laid in washes of ultramarine blue, pthalo blue, and a skin tone mixed with burnt sienna, cadmium red and touches of raw umber & ultramarine blue.

Many thanks to model Hector for his inspiring performance and set!

Osher Figure Drawing with Model Sophia

Friday, November 19th, we had a wonderful session with model Sophia.  An incredibly inventive and flexible model, Sophia created gesture poses that stretched our abilities and strengthened our drawing and observational skills.

During the gestures, I asked my students to spend the first minute of each three minute pose looking for the underlying structure of Sophia's body. We used one color for the structure, capturing Sophia's spine, her rib cage, her skull and other bones.  With two minutes remaining in the sketch, I called for a color change and we chose a contrasting color for the outer contours and shadows, building upon the armature we had laid down in the first minute.

Sophia's last pose was so abstract that it pushed our observation and drawing skills, and was a valuable workout.

All warmed up, we moved on to practicing drawing faces.  I demonstrated the process of finding the shape of a person's head, laying in the eye line about halfway down the face, drawing the eyes, and then measuring where the nose and lips fit in.  

We finished up with a long pose that incorporated our study of Sophia's face.  I used pastels on blue Canson Mi Teintes paper, and followed my intuition on color choices within Sophia's figure and in the negative space.

Many thanks to model Sohia for an amazing session full of inspiration and discovery!

Osher Figure Drawing with Model Emily

We had a wonderful session studying foreshortening with model Emily last Friday.  We began with 3-minute gestures following Emily's structure.

Once we were warmed up, we approached foreshortening in the gestures through wrapped line drawings.  

I described wrapped line drawings to my students as tracing the path of an ant traveling back and forth over the surface of the model's body.  

Another term for the ant's path is cross contours.  By looking at the contours criss-crossing Emily's body, noticing where they piled up on top of each other, we could sense the foreshortening.

Adding an outer contour line and a shadow or two added enough depth and dimension to bring the figure to life.

We made a longer study of foreshortening with a 15-minute pose, and added a fabric drape to give us some practice drawing fabric, too.

We finished the class with a long pose of about an hour, with breaks for Emily.  Her pose incorporated foreshortening, fabric and a clear view of her face for those who were drawn to portraiture.

Many thanks to Emily for her beautiful poses and inspiration!

Nature Journal Update: Watercolor Sketching in Autumn

A warm November afternoon with the sun shining through the autumn leaves inspired me to grab my nature journal & watercolors and capture the scene with a sketch.  

Watercolor sketching, or simply painting without laying in a drawing first, is a great way to create a quick image of what you see -- like a gesture drawing.  You can react to the landscape in the moment and make a record of your experience in your nature journal.

I often find when I'm tired after a too-busy schedule that sitting still with my art supplies out in nature calms and centers me.  Tracing the wobbly sassafras limbs against brilliant foliage, washing in loose tree canopy shapes, I come away feeling more rested.  Focusing purely on exploring what I see in nature internalizes the peacefulness of nature.

I hope you get a chance to sit and create in nature soon!

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!

Art for Self Care: Autumn Colors!

 

After a busy modeling season, having an hour outdoors in nature to follow the twisted limbs of a sassafras grove with my pencil and brush brought me peace and joy.  

The yin & yang of intense activity followed by stillness and focus in nature invigorates me.  And, what a delight to fall into the brilliant colors of autumn.

Hoping you find time to sit in nature this week to fill your soul up with beauty!

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Kathryn & David

In our final class of the Osher autumn term, we were fortunate to have two skilled models working together.  Kathryn & David created beautiful 5-minute gesture poses to get us warmed up.  

I had told my students to follow their intuition in selecting a medium to use in this class, and I chose charcoal for the gestures and pastel for the long pose.

Kathryn & David used the gesture poses for expressive storytelling, and I invited my students to focus on the negative space between & around David & Kathryn to help simplify the complex shapes.  

I really enjoyed this approach; instead of seeing their two figures as independent structures, I could look at them as a whole composition and capture the flow and energy of the pose.

For the long pose, I used colored pastel paper (Canson Mi Teintes), and took a colorists approach, selecting a different color for each value in the composition.   After the isolation of the pandemic, I am drawn to using vibrant colors to express the vitality of the models I draw and my joy in being together in person.

Many thanks to Kathryn & David for their inspiration in this class, and their work throughout the pandemic to make our Osher classes an oasis in a time of isolation and difficulty.  Your creativity and hard work uplifted many artists.

Bravo!