This week I had the pleasure of drawing beside my talented niece, Caitlin. She and my two sisters and their husbands are vacationing here near Seacrest Beach this week. Caitlin is studying art at Colorado State University. Her drawing is pictured at right.
The figure drawing session at Studio b. was well attended, with 12 or 13 people drawing, and one making fabric art. It is always such a pleasure, working beside talented and enthusiastic artists.
We continued with our focus on creating depth. The instructor, Heather Clements, had the model position herself so that each pose presented the artists with some part of the figure that required foreshortening.
The poses were longer. It’s interesting how much of a difference there is between a 15-minute pose and a 25- or 30-minute pose. The shorter poses force me to work faster than I otherwise would, so I certainly understand the value of the short poses. But it seems like it takes me 14 of the 15 minutes to get the basic gesture correct, so a 30-minute pose feels like pure luxury, giving much more of a sense of accomplishment.
Since my niece is interested in fabric arts, it was serendipitous that LaRhonda Whitmire came to our session to work on a fabric piece she is doing. She dyed her silk on a dropcloth on the floor, just wanting to be around other creative people while she worked. I think this is the idea Colleen Duffley had when she thought up Studio b., a venue where creative people can meet and multiply each others’ energy.