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Every week I participate with other artists in the figure drawing sessions at Colleen Duffley‘s Studio b., in Alys Beach, Florida. This week our instructor, Heather Clements, placed the model on a table in front of us. Normally the model poses on the floor or on a short platform.
I struggled throughout the entire session, because all of the shapes I was used to seeing, looked completely different from this lower perspective. It took me twice as long to draw anything, even in my warm-up drawings. I have included a few here, below, to prove my A for effort. I was only half-finished with the last pose when Heather called Time! at the end of the session. I have posted it above left, unfinished, and will post the finished piece later if I don’t ruin it. There is a good chance of that happening, because I won’t have the model there for a reference. I don’t take photos of the model — some artists do, but I prefer the pressure and power of live figure drawing. Of course that is a serious drawback, if I haven’t finished the drawing by the end of the pose.
In drawing that final pose, I broke the rules of figure drawing. One of the essential things to strive for, is equal development of the drawing so that if interrupted at any single point, the drawing will be developed as a whole. Anyone can see that I was working my way from the top of the page on down, instead of the whole page all at once.
Our model this week was extremely fit, and that added to the challenge. Perfect musculature has to be drawn fairly accurately, or it will look very wrong.
Adding to my general discomfort was my pollen allergy. The local pines are in full bloom, and pollen is everywhere this year, even inside my house! Of course that’s my fault for having the windows open, but who can resist, when the springtime days approach 70º!
Heather, the instructor, as usual, was incredibly prolific and “spot-on” with her ink drawings. Talk about confidence. I bet she does crossword puzzles with a pen too! Click here to see her art from this same session.
The top three drawings are Nupastel and graphite on Stonehenge paper. The reclining pose uses tinted graphite, which intensifies in color when dampened.
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