Life class #7

In a break from my normal life class, a friend asked me to go with her to the Saturday morning session which is run by a different tutor and has different models. There is also a mix of very short poses and up to 45 minute ones, as opposed to the 5 to 15 ones my weekday class has.

Two short poses. It really was a challenge to go straight in to this and get the basics down without getting distracted by the detail.

Although the proportions are out in this crouched pose I like the flow of the shapes described by the limbs. The tutor in this class is very keen on promoting stylistic variation and experimentation, rather than the core concepts, so it was quite liberating to be able to run with some of my ideas and recieve suggestions as to where I could go with them.

I tried to just capture the minimum of line and tone in this pose. I did not have enough padding on the board so there are pentimenti on the figure.

The arm is a little short but it was interesting to draw the profile of an older model's torso.

This stylistic study came about almost by accident. The facial features remind me of a figure on a Greek vase...

The hardest part of this was drawing the facial features upside down. So much for "Drawing on the right side of the Brain"...

The head is too small for the body but the overall effect has a monolithic quality, like Henry Moore's figures where the heads are deliberately smaller

These line studies and the two below were all done during the 45 minute pose, which was far too long for the way I work. I loved the angle I had, but found I preferred to work diffent media on the same pose rather than change position. I also had the opportunity to do a detailed study of the foot with the side-on view of the toes.

This graphite version is my personal favourite of all my life work to date.

The black conte shadows happened as a last minute idea, but do anchor the body to the surface.

About 3 women...

As an extension to the Spiral Dance theme, I have been working with three sets of data which reflect myself and two close friends, with whom I share deep and personal experiences, as women do. I used our radix (birth) charts as a basis for the drawing and worked each one in 3 different permutations. So far, although I know there are three more arrangements which would potentially work, I have come back to the first to creat a collage from. The symmetry and balance of the selected data are probaby the best match to get a visual result from. The other are either too cluttered or too restrained. My initial analysis of the (undrawn) 3 leaves little room for doubt that the first version was instinctively the best...

I have taken the four triangular unions I used- in this case particularly feminine symbols- the Moon, Venus, the asteroid Ceres (the harvest Queen) and the point Lilith (the dark Moon). I realised that I did not need the aspect nets in the exploration of the first combination. I used light blue to represent the Moon, red for Venus, orange for Ceres, and purple for Lilith. I stuck the various layers on in the order of closeness to Earth. The Moon is a little more bright blue than I would have preferred (my available papers were limited) but I think it works given the stark white background. The resultant collage is below.

Life class #6

I like this curled up pose, however so little could be seen of the upper foot that it was difficult to capture, and the result looks more like a small foot as I made the span of the toes too narrow.

Although far from perfect, I think this is successful if only that I didn't make the face look Neanderthal in proportion (unlike other efforts with faces)

I can't decide if the hips are too wide or the shoulders too narrow on this one- my focus was on getting the curve and twist of the spine. The crown of the head should have curved a little higher too.

I'm quite pleased with this one although the foot perched on the stool got away from me, and the lower leg is a little short.

This short pose caught me out as I got carried away with the bunched leg muscles and failed to complete an overall study.

This was a challenging pose with the foreshortening leaning towards me. The legs are okay but the proportions of the upper arms and torso are out and that Cave-woman thing happened with the face thrust forwards...

Life class #5

A quick pose (2 minutes from memory). The relative positions of the shoulders are a little off, and the foreground hand possibly a tad too small.

A fairly successful attempt although I had to take two attempts at the line of the body so the shoulder should be further out also.

I like the solidity of this study. The most difficult part was the foreshortening of the model's lower legs where they were tucked in towards her.

A rather more successful standing pose than most.

I caught the twist of the body but the far shoulder now appears a little higher than it should be

The hands are better not commented on but the overall proportions are correct

Another quick pose which lacks mass on the near leg.

I made the error of compressing the head to fit on the page, thus it is too small. Consequently I did not have time to include any background or what the model is leaning against.

A prone pose in charcoal. I particularly like the shadow falling across the lower leg where the other  lifts over it.

A less than successful attempt at a sitting pose with that ridiculously small chair!

Life class #4

One of my more successful efforts. I like the simplicity of the line and I got the proportions mostly right. I would have liked to include the line of the buttocks but had my board the wrong way round in order to see over it!

An attempt at a more tonal approach. Again, I'm relatively pleased with this.

I attempted to model the form with the side of a piece of charcoal. The paper I used was very thin so there are marks showing through from the drawing board surface.

The visible arm is too short, lacks mass, and appears to be resting in mid-air. the head is on the small side too.

The tilt of the face is a little off but overall I think I caught the pose.

I seem to have the most problem with standing poses, although as I usually work from a sitting position I should probably stand at an easel and attempt these.

Prone poses are what I enjoy most. It is rather more like looking at the shape of a landscape and I find them easier to arrange on the page. The arm lacks mass, however, and the lack of definition on the feet still gives the impression they are too small.