Life · Drawing

"Squeak Squeak Squeak"

That's the sound of rusty wheels starting to move and get lubricated again. I'm oh so rusty, not having made it to figure drawing for at least 6 months but it felt really good to go last night, surrounded by other artists and their wild variety of techniques and just draw.
Interesting model last night...an older gentleman named David who looked like a white haired Walter Matthau. He did some interesting poses but for me the biggest challenge was trying to figure out what was going on under the surface.

At Kamille's we always seem to have models that were the at the peak of fitness so it was easy to find the musculature (Oh Cassandra, I so miss you!) ... drawing someone older and while strong was a bit flabby in the gut was a lot more difficult.

I was talking with BJ and was telling me how he is modeling the skeleton...part by part. I am jealous remembering just how much I learned when I modeled John. I should try to find something like that going on in the city. You can't fake what you don't know...I really need to study up my anatomy big time!

I used my brush pen last night...I found myself too futzy so with the brush pen I was forced to commit to my lines. I think maybe next week I will finish up a special sketchbook and try an bonafide paint brush with some dilluted ink. I got some really good results with that the last time I used it.

Anyway, click the icon for the images. The one on top was 10 minutes... the bottoms were 5 minutes.

What do you think sirs?

Been a while, huh? Here's a bit of a warm-up exercise after such a long sabbatical. Click for a larger version.

Medium : Watercolor.
Paper : 140lb Arches Hot Press.
Size : 9 x 12 inches.

Full View

Finally finished this new work! Ylla the Blue Fairy has been my muse for over a decade. She is the one I naturally lean to when trying out a new style, design, technique. But it's been a while since I've painted her, and I've never painted her in watercolor, so this piece is long overdue.

YLLA.ORG :: My DevArt Gallery

 

 

YWCA last night. I got there late and was in a particularly slow drawing mood, maybe because my design related work has been more detail oriented with a recent project I'm working on. At any rate, I thought it would be interesting to really explore the forms of the muscles, since this guy was so thin, you could see a lot of definition in his body. So rather than worry about getting the whole figure, I tried drawing each shape, building the figure like that.

Warm spring birthday night
I splashed ink and triptyched twice
then they have to dry.

meanwhile a little fingerpainting abstractly struts her stuff

Made it to figure drawing last night, unfortunately a bit late so I missed the early gestures. I still feel rusty but it's coming. I think I may start doing some ink washes.

Anyway, last night was the lovely Jenny who had some really good poses. I wish I could have captured them better...I feel like my drawings are still really too stiff. Need to practice my gestures.

What do you think sirs?

Yes, true believer, Naked Tuesday has returned after a much too long hiatus! I felt very, very rusty and not as sure of myself as I was drawing but it still felt good to just be there.
It's a great artists studio run by a painter in the area. He told me he has been painting in the Bay Area for the last 25 years. The group so far seems to be divided into two groups...old beatniks who talk about the good ol' days...and young beatniks who wish they were around in the good ol' days. Still though, the space was really nice, the group was fun and the jazz was spicy and fun.

As I said, I felt very shaky and rusty but I figure it's my own darn fault.

Obviously it's my first time drawing the lovely Daisy who likes to use props and bits of costume...which sort of weirded me out but it's also good for me to stretch creatively I guess. It's weird. If the model is nude, it's fine...but the instant there is any article of clothing it's uncomfortable. I think it's because THEN they are in a state of UNdress which makes me feel awkward. Could be just me though. Thoughts?

Anyway, click the small pic to go see the full images.

What do you think sirs?