I was so happy to travel to Coeur ‘d Alene for figure drawing class last night at Teri Lee’s studio. This is the first sketch portrait I did of our beautiful model. I used a piece of soft sienna chalk and then started to darken areas with black charcoal. Unfortunately, when the 20-minute timer went off, I had not completed the shadow darkening with the charcoal.
As the model rested, I did the self-critic thing that all of artists do, cause you know we are our own worst critics. Oops! The eyes were way off and crooked, and her corneas were absolutely humongous. It was not an accurate likeness but it was a great start after a few months off. I resolved to pay better attention to width in the next session.
Improving My Art
Life drawing is quite challenging as it strengthens my drawing abilities. It’s a favorite artist retreat for me and it really charges up my batteries. Some of them are my best friends there, and I love to be surrounded by them. The artists that attend are at all levels in the profession, some just learning, some are equal, and a few are phenomenally better than me. Artists are a special breed in the creative pool of life, and it is just fun to be around others like yourself. Learning from another artist is the way to go.
My third attempt was done using my favorite pencils for sketching which are the Palomino Blackwings. They are gloriously soft and easily darken with very little pressure, but, I wish they were not so expensive. $2.50 is way too much for a pencil drawing tool, but I do love them.
Carefully placed her features as I remained conscious of making her face closer to me I laid the basic sketch out in the first 20-minute period and then in the second 20-minute session I focussed on rendering each feature in more detail. This sketch was a much better representation of the model even though it was a little too slender. Not bad for not actually measuring every step of the way.
