Figure Drawing January 31st, 2022

I was asked recently why I go to Figure Drawing. I don’t know if I have a really good answer. I think that initially I started going because it seemed like one of those art school things that people who went to art school complained about but you could see where it was beneficial. I was never able to go to art school but wanted to try to expose myself to as much of it as I could without being able to go.

When I started going to Steve Carpenter’s regularly I found much more that a regular practice. I found a community. I looked forward to going every week. There were people that I missed if they didn’t come regularly and I know Steve would actually call and check on people if they hadn’t been by in a while.
I loved the energy in Steve’s studio and a whole lot of that can be directly attributed to Steve. He is still who I want to be when I grow up. He was always so inspired and excited about what he was making in the studio and incredibly supportive to everyone in his classes regardless of their skill level.
He also had bad days. Which was inspiring. I would always try to sit close enough to Steve to watch him work and because of that I could also hear him when he made self commentary on what he was doing. It showed me that there is always room to grow and that no matter how amazing someone is there are times when they are disappointed with what they are making.

I miss going to Steve’s but some of the same people now show up at Flower City Figure Drawing. I hope that it becomes the same type of community and I hope some time Steve stops by to draw with us.

Bryn modeled for us last night and did a spectacular job. I look forward to working with her more in the future. Some of her short poses were breathtaking and if I had a bunch of time on my hands any one of them would have made a gorgeous painting. (They would have required reference photos, none of them would be feasible to hold for long so they are not very accurately depicted here).

Some people have asked about the times so I will try to include them going forward. The link to the video is below the photos.