Three life-drawing sessions: Helen on March 13th, Robin on March 15th & Jasmine on March 17th.

This week I attended three life drawing sessions.

The first is at Angela Palmer's studio in Brockweir in the Wye Valley. This is my regular Tuesday venue. Today was the second day we had Helen to model.

To start with I decided to de-construct the pose and to re-construct the parts into a new composition. I've done this before and rather enjoy the freedom it gives me in not having to address issues to do with the full pose, i.e. proportion, perspective, etc.

I am using a 0.3mm fineliner pen on A2 cartridge paper.

Then two drawings of the same pose as last week but this time I moved across the studio to view the model from the other side.
In the first one, I engage with a recurring them in my drawing of 'hard' and 'soft' edges, suggesting a strong light source on the model's left side.
This is a charcoal drawing on A1 cartridge paper.

Then bringing in some brown conte crayon with the charcoal.

The next drawing captures the model as she moves around, pausing for about two minutes at each pose.

So, that was Tuesday. Then on Thursday morning I was at Paul Fowler's Extreme Poses at Pegasus Art in Stroud, with Robin up in the ropes.

Fineliner pen and charcoal on A2 cartridge paper.

Then an A1 drawing.

These poses up in the ropes last for about 30 minutes.

This time I stopped drawing after about 20 minutes and decided to do a very quick A2 drawing of the same pose (see below). I started with the blocks of dark tone using my thick charcoal stick. I softened the impact of these blocks by caressing them with a rolled up piece of toilet paper. I then introduced some fineliner pen lines and finally punched in a few points of focus with a dark charcoal pencil.

Here I use a 0.8mm fineliner pen  on A1 cartridge paper. And, unusually, I include a suggestion of the ropes.  Sometime including the ropes is essential to understanding the pose.

And finally on Thursday I continue with the 0.8mm pen but this time using a light touch. I just fell in love with this pose, and wanted to do it justice. After completing the outline I asked Paul how I might continue. He suggested concentrating on a few selective points of 'dark tone', so this I did. And I am enjoying the outcome, very much.

So, on to Saturday at Tony Tribe's class at Arts Alive in Crickhowell, Powys.

To my pleasant surprise we had Jasmine as our model who I had last drawn on June 1st and June 15th 2010 at Angela Palmer's class in Mackenzie Hall in Brockweir in the Wye valley (I've been looking back at my blog posting for these two dates and comparing my work at this time with my current developments).

We had two 10 minute poses to start with.

For this first one I responded to an idea I had seen various artists attempt and simply repeated the drawing three times. I outlined the forms three times with a fineliner pen, then blocked in the dark tonal areas with a thick charcoal stick.

Below is the second of the 10 minute poses, with Jasmine resting her head and arms on a stool. I was very pleased with this outcome. I think I captured the form and gesture of the pose well, and my attempt to utilise distinctive marks, i.e. fine pen line, soft charcoal tone and dark charcoal tone, is made very clear.

These final two drawings of a lying pose allow the comparison with drawings of a similar pose on June 1st and 15th 2010.