Pushing it further—Mark Session Back Pose 08/05/2017

For the curious—I went to the trouble to make a animated gif (it may take a bit to load) which illustrates the progress of this life drawing that has been furthered beyond the time with the model. The original is what was achieved with the model posing for 25 min. The image with the additions was completed in about 40 extra minuets. So about an hour in all.

Although I still use Newsprint for 2-15 minutes poses, I've moved on to using a higher quality paper for most of my short pose work in the range of 20-25 minutes. Because of this, I've felt compelled to take these a bit further with additional work. As many may know, Newsprint doesn't take reworking very well at all. So it's a pursuit I've never really gotten into with short pose drawings. But it's a lot of fun to push the notation inherent to short pose work into something more fleshed out so to speak. It really allows you to think a bit more about what you want to emphasize and what you want to play down while still attempting to keep it all tethered to reality somehow. Oftentimes I wind up liking the original better, but as always—there is progress in the destruction.

Mark Session Back Pose 08/05/2017 - 25 Min. Pose (image 1) - 25 Min. Pose with additional work (image 2) - 18" X 24" - Carbon Pencils, Vine Charcoal, and White Pastel Pencil on Charcoal Paper

A collection of Sara Streeter Works

Sara Streeter Session 1/16/2016

25 Min. from Life

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter Session 1/23/2016

2 Hrs. from Life

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter Session 9/6/2016

25 Min. from Life

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter Session 1/14/2017

2 Hrs. from Life

18" X 24"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter Session 1/24/2017

5 Min. from Life

18" X 24"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter Session 2/08/2017

2 Hrs. from Life

13" X 15"

Oil on Canvas

Sara Streeter Session 11/03/2016

20 Min. from Life

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

Sara Streeter is a quite a legendary figure model in the L.A. area. She is the standard candle of art models, in my humble opinion. Collected here are various works completed over the last year or so. 

Untitled 193

Untitled 193

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min. From Life

2014

Untitled 46

Untitled 46

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min. From Life

2013

Untitled 27

Untitled 27

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

20 Min. From Life
2012

Reclining Portrait 8-1-2015

Reclining Portrait 8-1-2015

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min. From Life

Reclining Pose 8-1-2015

Reclining Pose 8-1-2015

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min. From Life

Back Pose 8-1-2015

Back Pose 8-1-2015

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min. From Life

Untitled 196

Untitled 196

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

20 Min. From Life

2014

Untitled #300

Untitled #300 

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 min.

2014

Daily Figure 4-30-15

Daily Figure 4-30-15

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

25 Min.

Daily Figure 4-28-15

Daily Figure 4-28-15

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2015

I've been fairly verbose in describing many of my posts up to now, but I feel at this point that much of my working process has been described in fairly good detail. So much so, that I've had to look back through earlier posts to make sure I'm not repeating myself. Given this, I'm going to be much more to the point in describing the work I post unless there is some new information that is worthy of adding. Thanks for looking, and reading.

This 25 min. drawing was completed as part of a daily figure drawing routine. 

Untitled #301

Untitled #301

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2014

I used a large sheet of Vellum for this 25 minute drawing completed last year. Vellum is a rather unforgiving surface to use with charcoal because it is very difficult to eradicate any mistakes. Also, the tooth fills up rather quickly. Although there is a kind of stark beauty to the work because it forces you to make definitive choices without hesitation. It's kind of a high-wire act like working in ink without an underdrawing, but on a large scale.

Untitled #148

Untitled #148

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2014

Sara Streeter is a well known model in the Los Angeles area. This 25 minute back pose of her came off well in that I had some time to give attention to the blanket that she was posing on. 

Drapery can really offer dramatic and dynamic lines in the composition of a pose. Especially for my way of working. Drapery, and how it's handled, is also a bit of a personal signature from artist to artist. In my experience, not many workshops afford the time to incorporate background considerations in their set-ups. So it's a welcome addition when something as simple as a well placed bit of cloth is present and adds something of value. 

Untitled #108

Untitled #108

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

Most facial expressions are short lived, but on occasion you will find a consistent expression on a models face throughout the duration of a pose. It's usually not an ebullient one given the strain that life modeling at length can cause, as in this 25 min. pose.

The truth of observation is one of the richest rewards and goals in drawing from life. To see things as they are, and not as we would wish them to be is not often a simple or easy task. Given this, I think it's no small accident that humanity existed for countless generations before the advent of the scientific revolution in Europe. Perhaps due in part to the natural aversion we have to truths that don't conform to the stories we have concocted. It is painful - the truth; but as they say, "No pain, no gain."

It's remarkable to think that so much of the technological and scientific advancements of the last 500 years began just with simply looking, truthfully, at what is in front of us however beautiful or painful*. Faithful observation is at the heart of progress and Life Drawing is a wonderful way to connect with that tradition. 

*The model's hand only presented three fingers to my angle of view. I could have added another one, but hey, that was the painful truth. ; ) 

Untitled #39

Untitled #39

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

This was a 25 minute pose from life on newsprint. Although newsprint is non-archival due to the acidity found in most brands, it has unique qualities that I have yet to find in other papers. When working from the figure; the paper exhibits a softness which easily lends itself to rendering common light and shade effects found on human skin. Especially smooth newsprint. 

If you have ever run your hand across a pad of it, you will notice that it has a skin like feel to it as your able to push down on it and the stack rebounds just like skin. The irregular and slightly wrinkled surface of the paper allows for a cushion of air to exist between every sheet, much like how a quilt traps air, and it's this cushion that makes graceful tonal transitions so effortless. 

For soft tonal effects in drawing - something within the mix of tools and surface has to have a giving nature to it. Some artists prefer the tool side via soft willow or vine charcoal, which I use on occasion on other papers, but nothing is as seductive as a soft surface. There aren't many to be found in the world of readily available art materials, but newsprint is one of them.

Untitled #134

Untitled #134

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

The model here is a perfect fit for my angular definition of shape. Given the tendency of the female form towards curvature; it's a rare gift to have a model that defies that.

I often work on large 24" X 36" sheets of smooth newsprint for shorter poses which forces me to work relatively fast as there is so much ground to cover. This was only a 20 minute pose from life, so it's a bit of a physical task to work quickly enough to get a satisfactory representation at that scale within the granted time frame.