Another Week Of Drawing

This week I actually managed to do figure drawings sessions Monday through Saturday, 17 hours of drawing total (not including breaks for the models). It has started to become a routine, which feels great.

Now I just have to find a job to support the endeavor, as well as all of those pesky life expenses like food and shelter. Materials expenses aside, it costs about $65.00/ week to attend all six sessions.

On Thursday evening I was at Washington Drawing Center, which hosts their Thursday and Saturday sessions in a studio over in Brookland. I was hoping to get over there early and head over by the basilica on the CUA campus so that I could watch the partial solar eclipse. I ended up running late and thus didn't get all the way over to my hoped for vantage point. Given the cloud cover I am not sure it would have mattered.

This was the drawing I produced that evening.

                                                    Seated Nude, Leaning Forward
                                                    Pencil On Paper

My most successful face so far and I actually know how I accomplished it which makes me pretty happy. I had forgotten my blending stomp, so had to make it work with just my trusty 2B pencil. There is some weirdness in the shading of the torso because of it. Also the foot is a disaster. But given my progress on the face, I am ok with it.

I had a job interview on Friday morning. It's the first one I have gotten in about six months of job searching so I was pretty nervous. I also had not actually interviewed for a job in about 15 years and am thus a little rusty. I am not sure how it went, but I do wish I had practices a bit more beforehand.

I was in a bit of a funk afterwords, and considered not going to the afternoon figure drawing session at Washington Studio School. I ended up being very glad I had.

                                                   Seated Nude With Drapery And Fruit Basket
                                                   Pencil On Paper

One of the other artists came in with an idea for a pose, inspired by a painting by George Braque, so we arranged our model in a chair with the drapery and fruit basket. I was glad to see someone coming in with an idea for a specific pose, because I feel often that in these group settings the pose ends up being a little generic. It also encourages me to be more vocal about my thoughts regarding poses, lighting and background.

Late Friday evening I picked up a brush for the first time in quite a while and took a crack at a value study in oils:

                                          Value Study, Three Pyramids
                                          Oil on canvas

I did the initial layout in charcoal, then blocked everything in with paint. There are a couple of drawing issues and some things to address in terms of the value differences. I am probably going to paint this same subject again. Still it was nice to have a brush back in my hand again. I have missed the smell of linseed oil.

I woke up a little late Saturday morning, and with track work on the Red Line, I ended up getting to Brookland about fifteen minutes after the start of the session. The biggest downside to this was I missed my chance to get one of the few available easels, and thus had to work in my 9 x 12 sketchbook. I spent most of the morning working on this:

                                                    Standing Nude
                                                    Pencil On Paper

With a standing pose it is hard for a model to be absolutely consistent over the course of a three hour session, so the face here is a little bit of an amalgamation of the slight differences over time.

I also spent some time working on a portrait of the model, which was less successful although very informative.

Other activities in the week have been centered around trying to find a job, purging my closets of empty appliance/ electronics boxes, and doing a site survey for an as- built drawing I am producing for Anacostia Playhouse.

Back to the easel.

Peace in yer crease.

The Week In Drawing

I way overslept my alarm yesterday and thus  did not get up in time to go to the Saturday morning figure drawing session at Washington Drawing Center.  But I managed to get out to draw five days this week, which was fabulous.

Monday night I was at Washington Studio School, although unfortunately the model was a no show. Still, it was a nice group of people and has the benefit of being within walking distance of my apartment. We waited for about half an hour and then left. I went to the Starbucks on Dupont Circle and did a little sketching there. There is a second level there that is great for observing people if you can get into the right corner.

Tuesday night was Hillyer Arts Center which is in an alley behind the Phillips Collection. It was three hours working from short poses to longer ones, the last being about thirty minutes.  I have seen the model before at WDC, although I am embarrassed to admit I cannot remember his name. He does some amazingly dynamic poses in the one minute gesture drawings which really get your arm moving. One of the longer poses is (somewhat) captured here:

                                          Reclining Nude
                                          Pencil On Paper

The right arm is too short, and the left forearm is ridiculously too long in this sketch, but given that it had been some time since I last drew the human form, it was a good warm up.

I was unsure of where I was going, and thus got there about half an hour early, which gave me time to take in the show hanging there.  I was especially struck by the work of Lee Gainer, and had I a spare $10,000 and room to hang it, I would definitely buy a piece of her work. You should go check it out.

Wednesday evening I was at WDC. Our model was a young woman named Annie, who has posed there several times when I have been there. She is perhaps my favorite model both for the highly dynamic poses she does in the short and medium length sittings, and for her remarkable consistency in the longer poses.

                                          Reclining Nude In Tension
                                          Pencil On Paper

I think this was a 5 minute pose. I wish it could have been longer so that I could refine the sketch more, but given that she was leaning back onto her elbows I can't imagine she would have been able to hold it much longer.

                                                    Seated Nude From Behind
                                                   Pencil On Paper

                                                    Seated Nude From Side
                                                    Pencil On Paper

The last three poses of the evening were the same for twenty minutes each, and we had the option of playing musical chairs to draw from different viewpoints. On both of these I had the advantage of not having to really draw the face, which I am still struggling with.

Thursday evening was back to WSS for a three hour, single pose session. In the sessions where we are beginning with shorter poses and moving into longer (20 minutes or so) ones, I work in an 11 x 14 sketchbook. For the single poses I work on a piece of 18 x 24 drawing paper and stand at an easel.

                                                    Seated Nude
                                                    Pencil On Paper

This drawing is perhaps the most successful thing I have done to date although this is actually not a good photograph of it. The legs are just slightly out of proportion and you can probably tell I REALLY didn't want to draw the chair, but it's the closest I have come to drawing someone's face that actually looked something like the model in question.  It was good to feel like progress is being made.

Friday afternoon was again at WSS. I had misread how the session was structured and thus only had my sketchbook. I did several versions of the single pose and liked none of them. It was frustrating to feel like I was taking a step backwards.

One thing I did discover on Friday was that I would much rather draw standing at an easel rather than with the sketchbook in my lap. I may end up buying a portable easel at some point.

I continue with the value studies, trying to do one a day (I did miss a two days last week). I really felt they made a difference in my Thursday night drawing. For the moment I am concentrating on the shapes with hard edges. After another week I will move on to the cylinder, cone and sphere.

Speaking of which, I should get myself back to the easel and draw some pyramids.

Peace in yer crease.

Some Random Musings

Below is this morning's value study piece. It's on 11" x 14" paper, which is a lot of space to fill in with a pencil*. I am bothered by the streakiness of the shading. I could use a blending stomp, but my hope is to get a lot better control and variation using just a pencil.

                                             Untitled Still Life
                                             Pencil on paper.

I have spent the better part of the afternoon at Starbucks, dealing with some Nutcracker related emails, as well as rewriting a cover letter and adjusting a resume to submit for another job application. I am trying to remain positive about the job front, but could really use some good news sometime soon. I stopped looking for theatre design gigs some time ago** so the calendar ahead is beginning to resemble the color of Ahab's nemesis.

I am thinking I need a new name for this blog. Suggestions?

Well, I should go eat something and then get back to the easel.

Peace in yer crease.

*Actually three pencils, a 2B, a 4B and a 6B.

**Interestingly, I have one fewer show lined up for the coming season than I did at this same time last season, when I was still actively pursuing work. There is something telling about that, I just can't make sense of it at the moment. And I don't think I even really care to.

Value Studies

The title of this post might lead one to think I was writing for some conservative publication. I assure you that is not the case, although if I did it would probably be hilarious. Right up until the point I got fired.

No, some things I have been reading lately, along with some ideas from the instructor of the figure drawing class I took over the summer have lead me into a little exercise where I draw objects with an emphasis on exploring the comparative value* of each object in relationship to one another. So I got ahold of three sets of foam shapes consisting of a sphere, a cone, a cylinder, a cube, a box and a pyramid. One set is white, one set medium grey, and one black. The foam is a matte finish, which means no reflections or specular highlights to wrestle with.

Next was building a box out of foam core, and buying black, grey and white paper to use as backgrounds for the still lifes**. It looks a little something like this:

The box not only helps me to control the background value, it also lets me manage the light source to a significant degree. No multiple sources to produce confusing shadows so I can observe and work on rendering accurately the way light falls on these objects and the way bounce from one object influences the shape and depth of shade on another.

So for the next couple of weeks (at least) I will be spending a part of my day drawing basic geometric shapes in various shades. And doing it again. And again. And again.

It's actually not as tedious as it sounds. Similar to woodworking or welding, there is always the effort required to make the materials behave the way you want them to. I put on some classical music and get lost in the drawing for a couple of hours. I learn a little more each time I do it even when I am drawing the exact same composition as the one I did the day (or morning) before. And I plan to start replicating these exercises in paint.

Last week I finished up my last theatrical design for the foreseeable future. So starting this week I plan to get back to figure drawing in a hardcore way. I have found resources to spend 3 hours a day, six days a week in figure study, most in my neighborhood, and I plan to take full advantage of that as long as I am able. What will interfere with that will be finding a job that conflicts with the schedule, or not finding a job and running out of money to continue. All told it is about $65.00 a week to participate in these various sessions. Maybe I should get a Paypal "Donate" button on my blog?

While I am on the subject, I am still looking for a job so if you know of anything please don't hesitate to let me know.

Other than that I am just reading a lot and working on my Italian. I am about a third of the way through a biography of Raphael, also reading in fits and starts William Kentridge's Six Drawing Lessons which is a fascinating discussion on art, artists and the role of both in society.

Time to go off and get ingredients for dinner.

Peace in yer crease.

*Value is a scale of light to dark in various steps, usually 5 or 9 (although Ansel Adams used an 11 step scale in developing his photographs). I am trying for a 9 step scale in my preliminary exercises with a plan to do a series in a 5 step scale.

**What the hell is the plural of "Still Life"?