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Figure Drawing on Colored Paper

This week we again had a new model for figure drawing at Studio b. The young woman had a number of interesting tattoos, but tattoos are one of those things that you see right at the beginning, and then while you are drawing, you forget about them, and then maybe you will see them again at the end.   I’ve had this happen with with whole body parts before.  All of a sudden I realize there’s another leg  — how many legs does this model have?  So I missed drawing most of her interesting tattoos.

A few months ago I bought an assortment of colored Canson Mi-Teintes papers, and I had not used the brighter colors, so I brought them to figure drawing to try out this week.

I had fun even though the bright colors were a bit outside of my comfort zone.  I particularly enjoyed working on the red paper.  I used Nupastel, letting the red show through for some of the middle values.  I opted not to do anything with the background, leaving the figure floating, unanchored.

At left is one of my warm-up gestures.  Our instructor, Heather Clements, gave a very good demonstration about gesture drawing, and setting up the figure on the paper.  This example is nothing like what she taught us, but I just thought it was interesting.

The studio was a-buzz with creativity, with all the drawing upstairs while Colleen Duffley worked downstairs, uploading the New Years camera-phone competition.  Earlier this week Studio b. hosted a presentation by one of the Escape to Create artists, Judith Levy.

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A Pregnant Pause at Studio b.

The Wow! factor at our figure drawing session at Studio b. was incredible this week, with a model 8 months pregnant.  I had never before had the opportunity to draw an obviously pregnant model.  I think the other artists at Studio b. were as excited about the prospect as I was — the gallery was packed, standing-room only.  We warmed up with the usual very short poses, and then for the longer poses, we used a floodlight to give extra emphasis to the shape of her belly and her swollen breasts and radiant face.   Some of the artists even got to see the baby kick!  By the end of the session, I suspect we all, and for sure I know that I, completely adored this woman who was willing to share this intimate experience with us.  Following are a few of my drawings from this evening.  Our instructor, Heather Clements, also did some great drawings and posted them on Heather Clements’ Blog.