More New Adventures in Art
The figure drawing classes that I go to on Monday nights have been great. I have learned a ton and I love it. For a while now I have been interested in spending more time with the model in a particular pose. I keep coming back to this whole portrait drawing from life. I keep taking classes and workshops. I have never figured it was going to be the next direction in my art – but for whatever reason it keeps pulling me back to it and I decided to stop trying to fight it. I don’t know what one does with all of these life drawings – but I am going to keep making them anyhow.
It came to my attention that there was a group that gets together on Thursdays from 1-5 at the Hungerford Building. They have a model pose for that whole time and often for more than one day. A couple of months ago I started clearing my Thursdays and rearranging things so I would be able to attend.
I decided I would draw the models in charcoal since it makes such nice finished drawings (and because I hate it and I still believe I will grow more as an artist by working in mediums that I am uncomfortable with).
My first session there was a wonderful guy who goes by Lightning. He has a great face, a wonderful smile (which he couldn’t hold for the pose, but I tried to capture hints of) and he sat really well.
I was pretty happy with the outcome.
I had to miss the next week as I still had one more Thursday booked for tattoo appointments. It was the first of two sessions with a model named Charity. I was able to attend the following week for her second sit on the pose.
The following session was going to be Lightning again in the second of the three sessions in the same pose. I didn’t feel like I had another 4 hours to put into the charcoal drawing that I had started. I went back and forth for a while over what to do. In the end I decided to push even further outside of my comfort zone and try my hand at painting during the session.
As a side note, these canvases are left over from when I took the Casey Baugh workshop. They are very expensive lead primed linen canvases and I hate them. They are too stretchy and the supports shows through and push on the canvas. I’m going to try to push this one out before I paint on it again next session. I would never buy them again.
Funny enough they were also the first canvases to rot out on my yard exhibit experiment so overall they aren’t necessarily good archival wise either.
Not everything expensive is better.
WAY outside of my comfort zone but I’m actually (all things considered) relatively happy with where this is going.
I still don’t know what I am doing with these – but I know that I am growing and learning in the process. And really that is all that matters. New adventures. New goals. Pushing myself.
Just TeeJay's Blog 
Water color is a difficult medium and as much as the charcoal is wonderful, I really like the painting! You captured the ruggedness of the model and the slight amusement playing across his face.