 Our model this week at Studio b.‘s regular weekly figure drawing session stood on a ladder during the warm-up drawings and the shorter warm-up poses, and she also posed up on a table. Usually our model is on a short platform or even on the floor, so this change in perspective was a rare treat. I enjoyed the challenge of drawing from a lower vantage point. Every shape was different from how we normally see our model. To add to the challenge, we positioned a floodlight to light her from below.
The model brought a hat, a mask, and a necklace to give us some accents.
I used some different media to loosen up from the intense figure drawing workshop Heather Clements taught last Saturday at Studio b. I had not sketched since Saturday, and I felt like I had really tightened up, hence my decision to use less familiar media, to force myself to “let go”. Interesztingly, I think my most successful piece of the evening was one of these looser pieces, using water-soluble Aquarelle pencil on hot press watercolor paper, the study of the model wearing the mask, above left. It is small, only 4½” x 6″.
I throw away almost all of my warm-up drawings. Colleen Duffley, owner of Studio b., suggested saving more gestures, explaining to me that some people have more appreciation for anonymous gestures than for finished drawings of a model they don’t know. This poses a dilemma. I do so many warm-up drawings, or gestures, that I always use an inferior grade of paper, for the sake of economy. Newsprint and manilla paper costs just pennies, as opposed to good paper which can run from $1.65 to $3.50 per sheet, and upwards. So the few times that a warm-up drawing turns out to be a keeper, its value is compromised because of the poor quality of paper. It can be redrawn on archival paper, but that is a challenging task because the immediacy of expression, the passion, will be difficult to recreate. So I decided to bring a tablet of 18 x 24 Canson Cream that I had bought a good 6 months ago, and I did all of my warm-up drawings on good paper. I missed the rough texture, or “tooth” of the manilla and gray bogus papers I usually warm up on — the tablet of good paper is very smooth.
Below left is one of my warm-up drawings, a 5 minute pose, and the other two are longer poses on Stonehenge and Rives.
 When I was first learning to draw, as a child, I remember making a myriad of feathery lines to indicate an edge. Sometimes I still catch myself doing that. But my drawings are more successful when I draw single, confident lines, whether they are “right” or not. After all, that’s part of the beauty of present day art — our culture allows and even encourages the artist to be expressive without worrying so much about technical accuracy. Of course it is nice to have both, but if you have to sacrifice one, I think it is better to sacrifice accuracy in favor of confident expression.
But that is not to say that one should not strive for accuracy and technical merit. Our model at Studio b. this week was very fit, a specimen, actually, perfect for studying developed musculature. But none of our poses were long enough to do justice to basic anatomy, so I attempted to describe her muscular development by drawing the outer contours. The lines are not perfect; even an untrained eye can see that there are exaggerations and out-and-out “wrong” lines.
In the moment though, in the rush of the 25-minute pose, every line feels perfect, every line is drawn with confidence, the muse shouting at the top of her voice.
 Different participants in the figure drawing sessions at Studio b. may have different expectations. Some are drawing in preparation for a painting, some for technical skill and craftsmanship, some to stretch their creativity, some to improve their ability to see, and some are attempting to complete a finished drawing.
I don’t think there is anything that challenges me as much as working from a live model. I work towards amost all of the above goals, except that I am never preparing to paint. A completed drawing is my highest hope and my favorite art form. That does not mean that every last detail is drawn, but rather that the essential expressive nature of the pose has been captured.
That essential nature of the pose might be expressed in a 30-second gesture. The drawing at right happens to be from a 30-minute pose. The model was kneeling, but what most interested me was her upturned face and her hands behind her back. I’m happy that the pose was long enough for me to make a good effort at also capturing her likeness. Of course there are always corrections that can be made, and those are usually noticed the next day after a session. I’ve been meaning to take a camera so that I would have a reference for a correction here or there, but somehow I have never used a camera for this purpose. Maybe I’m a snooty purist, thinking that by using a photo, no longer would I be working from a live model. As a result, I have the occasional uncorrected boo-boo in my work.
It is always a temptation to begin a drawing with too much detail. The initial layout and the basic shapes need to be laid in fairly quickly. If I start with detail right off the bat, invariably I will get proportions wrong. So drawing fast is an imperative. Most of our poses at Studio b. are between 15 minutes and 45 minutes long. I remember the studio sessions when I was studying art in college, many moons ago, when we might have had the same pose for the majority of a 3-hour class. It was always a bit of an ordeal, putting the model in exactly the same position after the breaks, and frankly, the spontaneity disappeared for me. But back then, the goal was technical accuracy and craftsmanship.
At Studio b. we are fortunate to have models who are invested in our work, who ask what sort of pose we would like, who try very hard to hold difficult poses. It is an intimate experience, to be working from a model who cares about your success. I think that can lend an energy to drawing from live models that is absent when I practice from photographs. The challenge though, is that I have to draw fast, and sometimes that makes me huff and puff and sweat a little!
 Our model for Figure Drawing at Studio b. this week brought a black hat that I just loved. She used it in almost all of the warm-up poses, but then for the longer poses, she switched to a sequence without the hat. Fist she posed just standing in the pool, then wetting her hair under one of the pool fountains, and then she posed seated and fixing her hair.
After our break, a few raindrops speckled the courtyard so we moved indoors to one of the galleries for the final poses.
I asked the model to put the hat on for one of the last poses. It is more interesting to me if there is an element of the drawing that contrasts with the figure. That element might be an added compositional effect such as the actual setting or environment, or just background shapes, but it could simply be the texture of the model’s hair, or a shadow pattern, or a necklace, or a hairband, or some other inconsequential accessory. In this case, the hat the model brought was solid black, with a shiny band, and it became a dominant force, giving the pose some pizzazz.
It’s always interesting to see who shows up at Studio b.’s figure drawing sessions. This week, model and designer India Hicks drew with us.
Studio b. owner Colleen Duffley regularly schedules interesting people to discuss and show their work to the community, and that is how India happened to be in town and to come to figure drawing. She fussed at her drawings just like the rest of us did, but I am always amazed at people like her who say they haven’t done any figure drawing in 20 years, and then proceed to whip off some drawings like they never stopped!
I’m going to keep an eye out for her son’s art too. Though still in junior high, his drawings show great promise.
 Figure drawing artists usually work exclusively from nude models. But this week at Studio b., I had the good fortune of being the only artist. So I had my choice. Interestingly, the model had brought tennis gear, and was planning to use it in during the warm-up drawings — he thought we might like the added purposeful action. So I asked him to wear the tennis clothes and keep the racket nearby for the entire session.
It’s so much easier drawing a clothed model. I can draw the clothing with an extra wrinkle here or there and no one is the wiser. You can’t do that with a nude figure without it becoming grotesque.
The model sat for me for 30 minutes for the drawing at left, and we took a short break, and then he sat for me for another 15 minutes. I like this drawing. I drew the white with Nupastel and the dark values with graphite, on gray Stonehenge.
The drawings below are two of the warm-up gestures, the second one obviously a longer pose than the first, and the third is the top part of the last drawing of the evening.
In the late summer of 2008 I started changing my life.
I had been maintaining a fair level of fitness by jogging, but I stopped when the economy picked up in 2001. For 7 years then, I made hay while the sun was shining. My business grew by leaps and bounds. And I gained an average of 7 pounds a year. I’m sure some of the weight gain was due to the natural slowing of my metabolism as I slid into middle-age, but I expect the rest was due to the stress. I was keeping very long hours, working fast and furiously. In 2007, when the bottom fell out of the economy and my business growth ground to a halt, I discovered that my waistline had grown along with my business. I pondered whether to just buy new clothes, or to try to do something about it, and I decided to get healthier. It took me another 6 or 8 months to work up the nerve to go to the local health studio in Seagrove Beach. I first went there to find out whether Boot Camp would be a place where I would get yelled at, and the owner laughed and said No, so I signed up. It was slow going. The instructor would tell the class to do 30 repetitions of some torturous activity, and then she would say, And Joan, you do 5! I focused on the fact that many of the strong and healthy participants were half my age. A year and a half later, I traded Boot Camp for Spin, and in the fall of 2010 I was fit enough to do a strenuous hike in Peru.
A year after I started improving my physical fitness, in the fall of 2009, I found out about the figure drawing sessions at Studio b. My major areas of study for my degree from the University of Northern Colorado, some 30 years prior, had been health-physical education-recreation, and also fine arts with a life-drawing emphasis. I was in heaven when I found out about the local figure drawing sessions.
Now, I am making yet another change, for the fitness of my mind and soul. I have started practicing meditation, and also have been attending yoga. I intend to continue both practices, while I keep up with my drawing and my cardio work on the spin-bike. All the signs that I attach significance to tell me I am on the right path, so even though work is busier, I am making a concerted effort to continue my new, healthier habits.
My art also is ready to progress to the next stage. Step one is to open the store on my website. My webmaster, Warren, will be setting it up so that anyone wanting to purchasing one of my drawings can know what my price is, and can actually make the purchase over the internet if they wish. It will be a little bit grueling, I’m sure, to make sure all of my drawings are correctly identified and reasonably priced. They will be offered without mat or frame, since matting and framing are very personal choices depending on where the art will be displayed. Following that, I expect I will be getting out some paints and broadening my artistic efforts by participating in outings with the local plein air painters group.
A dear friend told me today that she had learned to love herself again — maybe that’s what I really had lost and am finding again. My overall fitness and my art are not the end goal — they are the means. The end goal is a more playful, creative, expressive, and joyful life.
 You would think that when you go to the same activity, week in and week out, that it would become predictable, and perhaps even boring.
Not so with figure drawing, especially at Studio b. We had the same exceptional model for the 2nd week, who clearly was invested in our work, being aware of how her poses might come across, and considering the mood they might evoke. Studio b. owner Colleen Duffley said the model was even practicing a few poses before we got there, and during breaks, she asked the artists what sort of pose they would like next. Of course for me, every pose is a challenge, so I am just happy to be there and almost any pose is good! Generally, if a pose is not well-lit or is uninteresting from one vantage point, there is enough room to move to another location where I can see better or the composition is better.
For our final pose of the evening, the model got into the water of the pool. Lit by the underwater lights, the portion of her figure beneath the water was a chalky blue-green, and extremely distorted. The part of the figure above the water was almost a silhouette, it was so dark. This is the first time I have drawn a figure in water, so I really had to study it. The water’s distortion greatly shortened and widened the part of the figure closest to the surface of the water from my vantage. Each artist had a different distortion. What struck me the most were the amazing colors, so although I rarely draw in color, this pose begged for it.
Heather Clements produced an amazing pencil drawing from the 50 minute pose — hopefully she will include it in her blog. Also it can be seen on Studio b.’s facebook page.
Below are two other poses from this model this week, which I drew with graphite and Nupastel on Stonehenge paper, one paper gray and the other faun.
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 Steve Wagner |
The energy was high at Studio b. this Wednesday at the regular weekly figure drawing session. There were 5 of us, and we again drew in the courtyard by the pool. The model was new to Studio b., but obviously experienced, holding difficult poses. I was thrilled to be working beside the other accomplished artists in this setting. Everyone was on fire!
Inside the Studio, Colleen, Melanie, and Garrett worked on a project. The whole place was charged.
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 Carol Joseph (click for larger) |
 Carol Joseph |
I had some fun drawing an unusual pose from a strange angle, to create the drawing at right. You have to look at it a little longer, to figure out what I was seeing. The model was leaning her head on one hand with that elbow propped on her knee, and her hair twisted across over to one side. My view showed the top of her shoulders and a little of her back twisted towards me, even though she was seated. Below it I have posted Steve Wagner’s drawing, to give you an idea of what it looked like from a different perspective. From my vantage point, the shapes were so unusual that they became very abstracted to me, and I really had to just draw what I could see, without calling it a shoulder or a back. It seemed like if I named a shape, I would draw it wrong and have to do it over.
We had several great poses from this model, and I especially appreciated the poses where her head was thrown back, creating amazing shadows in the shapes exposed within her neck. My final drawing was a portrait. I have also included Carol Joseph’s drawing of the same pose that I used for the portrait, with apologies that both Steve’s and Carol’s drawings are so dark in my photos — I should have used a flash, but they are sufficient for you to get the idea. Steve draws on brown paper, but Carol was actually drawing on white paper.
At our Figure Drawing session at Studio b., Thursday this week, we drew in the open air, in the courtyard by the pool. Studio b. is a wonderful venue for events of all sorts, including many a reception for any number of creative pursuits. The activity often spills over into the courtyard where the pool and the pool fountain form a serene backdrop to whatever is going on. A board on two ropes hangs as a swing in front of the pool, a little catawampus, but serviceable. The model posed near the old washtubs for our warm-up drawing, and then she posed leaning against one of the arbor pillars, and sitting on the swing, and then lying on a bench. Four artists enjoyed the evening of shared community and artistic passion, while Colleen Duffley, owner of Studio b., and her assistant worked in the adjoining room. I drew the following sketches there this week.
 Soft pastel on manilla We drew a female model at Studio b. this week at the regular weekly figure drawing session. She’s been there before. She is challenging to draw well because she is so fit and toned.
Depending on the pose, sometimes it seems like the model has 6 or 7 legs and arms and at least 40 fingers. Drawn wrong, they become grotesque victims of some horrible farming accident. But drawn correctly, they of course help to convey the totality of the expression of the pose.
Some artists never draw the hands or feet, thereby avoiding the issue altogether.
I know how to draw fingers and toes, but I don’t know how to draw them quickly. So I couldn’t believe my good fortune when the model presented me with a pose that from my vantage point, barely showed just two fingers underneath her hair, and no toes, or even feet, for that matter. What luxury, to spend the entire half hour on the stretch of the figure! I have posted it below at right. Click here for very large view.
 Graphite and nupastel on Stonehenge Our warm-up drawings were 1-minute and 5-minute poses. For all the craftsmanship in a finished drawing, the hurried execution of a warm-up gesture can have more appeal because it captures the artist’s immediate impression without a lot of correction. Simplification is requisite — there is no time for details. Above left is one of my warm-up gestures from this session.
The problem with warm-up gestures is that they are usually drawn on inexpensive paper that will fade or yellow or even fall apart over time, so they are not collectible unless you spend a little money on archival framing, with ultraviolet resistant glass. I have redrawn gesture drawings on better quality paper, but it is difficult to duplicate because the rushed immediacy is impossible to recreate. Since we often draw 15 or 20 warm-up drawings before settling into longer poses, the use of cheap paper is a matter of economics. The manilla paper and the gray bogus paper I use for gesture drawings are less than 15¢ a sheet, while Canson Edition paper is $2.19 a sheet, and Canson Rives is closer to $4.07 a sheet. Even Stonehenge is $1.65 a sheet, so you can see that it could quickly take the artist to the poorhouse to use quality paper for warm-up drawings.
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