Sometimes the artists will talk during the breaks between the longer poses at the figure drawing sessions at Studio b. This week we touched on the purpose of our lives, parallel universes, and the annihilation of the solar system that is going to happen in a zillion years. I have to confess, I have never lain awake at night over any those issues. It’s challenge enough just being myself in my small world!
My life is pretty basic. My “day-job” can be all-consuming. Many of my activities are trade-offs, where I have to give up one thing so I can do another. But having made those trade-offs, I am so much healthier than I was 3 years ago when I first started working out, and I draw better than 2 years ago when I started coming to the figure drawing sessions at the b., and I have more friends since spending more time paddling the local waters over the last 2 years, and somehow I have managed to find a little time to practice meditation and yoga. All told, that probably consumes 20 hours a week. If the economy changes, and my work gets busy again, I’m going to have to make some choices, because that 20 hours is time I used to spend working. But for now, things are good, and the solar system is not worrying me. Global warming, yes, acidification of the oceans, yes, but the solar system , no.
I don’t worry about anything very much. Once in a while, not having a lot of money will make me itch, but not too often, because the experiences I have make me wealthy beyond any amount of money. The trick is merely to be present, to be looking at what is, and allowing myself to be amazed. And that brings me back to figure drawing, to my state of mind when I am most successful at capturing the essence of a particular pose.
Both of the poses I show above, were about 30-minutes long. I roughly and lightly sketched the gesture with white Nupastel, and then refined the shapes and the lighting with both nupastel and graphite.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot