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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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