Thursday, March 26, 2015

Black Wrist Band

Black Wrist Band

After you’ve named so many poses things like “Reclining Woman,” “Seated Nude,” and “Kneeling Model,” it gets harder and harder to name drawings something descriptive. I mean it’s not like I can use names such as “Woman in Plaid Shirt,” or “Model in Blue Dress.” The Wednesday night model was thoughtful enough to wear a black wrist band. Thank you!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Mystical

St. Patrick’s Day
Last Tuesday night’s drawing group happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day which also happened to be my birthday. Although the model wasn’t Irish, she did remind me of how St. Patrick was accused of seducing money from wealthy women for his church. And, coincidently or not, there were absolutely no snakes anywhere to be seen during the three hours of poses. Freakin’ mystical!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Hands

Hands of a Model
Charcoal on newsprint


After drawing the model for over two hours in various poses, with varying degrees of inaccuracy, I spent the last part of the last pose just drawing the model’s hands. Looks just like him, I think.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Waiting for a Table


Waiting for a Table at Harry’s Roadhouse
Metal print (aluminum)
14 x 11



Friday, March 13, 2015

Woman on a Pillow

Woman on a Pillow
Charcoal on newsprint

Some of our best models are really good at making a pose difficult to draw. You get used to seeing (and drawing) a head on top of a body with arms and legs in pretty much the usual places. Then all of sudden the model does something like this and nothing looks familiar. But these unusual poses sometimes turn out better than the more ordinary poses, probably because they force you to concentrate more on the relationships between shapes and lines. This might be another one to add to my etching series of life models.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Missing Stool

Missing Stool
Charcoal on newsprint

I’m just now getting a chance to scan some drawings from a couple of weeks ago. I think her right foot was elevated on a stool that I didn’t have time to draw. Or maybe I just lost touch with visual reality and totally failed in the drawing apartment. That happens a lot, but for now I’ll go with the missing stool version.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Waiting for a Table



I don’t sketch as often as I should when I’m out and about. But on this particular night (years ago) we took an out-of-town guest to Harry’s Roadhouse for dinner. The place is very popular, both for food and Santa Fe atmosphere. Which also means lots of people go there and at peak hours and you might have to wait for a table, especially in the summertime. I had been encouraging our guest to draw, so I took a sketchpad and while we were waiting for a table I made a quick sketch of Robin in her table-waiting pose. Skip forward about 10 years and when I ran across a scan of the sketch on my iMac I decided it would make a good etching project that I could keep loose and experiment with in various stages. The version above went from sketch to soft ground etching, then to a small amount of dry point etching,  then to digital print. 

In the next step, below, I added more tone and digital texture to the background, and also lightened some areas of tone to create highlight areas.  
   






Tuesday, March 3, 2015

From the Back

Quick Sketch from the Back
Charcoal on newsprint

I’m always surprised how foreshortened poses can make such interesting shapes. I’m also surprised when a quick two-minute sketch of a foreshortened pose turns out to be half-way decent. I think I’ll add this one to the series of etchings that I’m working on.