3-28-2015 Life Drawing - 01

3-28-2015 Life Drawing - 01

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

40 Min. From Life

2015

Untitled 121

Untitled 121

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

40 Min. From Life

2014

Untitled 53

Untitled 53

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

40 Min. From Life

2014

Untitled #238

Untitled #238

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2014

I completed this drawing from life at the Joshua Retreat Center in about 40 min. last year. It was nice to have the extra time to fill in some detail related to the model's surroundings. Although details of the setting can sometimes diminish the timeless quality that nude figure drawing can evoke. 

The inclusion of setting details tends to put a definitive time and place stamp on a work which I don't always find necessary or desired, but of course these can be fun sometimes. Granted, it's difficult to completely escape the clues of time and place in a work, but I think that implied timelessness is one of the most endearing aspects to working in this tradition. There are no changing fashions of clothing or styles of architecture present. Just the human body, as it has been, for hundreds of thousands of years (give or a take few tattoos on the model).  ; )

Untitled #246

Untitled #246

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2014

This was a 40 minute pose from life at a nearby workshop in Palm Desert, CA. I'm often drawn to working more in line than masses when it comes to using charcoal as a medium. The dark broad lines are a breeze to execute with the side of a well formed edge. Also, there is a primitive beauty to working with a simple piece of charred wood. It feels timeless really, as it has been a tool of choice in art for literally thousands of years.

Untitled #94

Untitled #94

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

Poses like this 40 min. standing arrangement are nice when the model has something to keep themselves steady with. Krissy, the model,  didn't take a break for the duration of the pose which always makes it more challenging to stay steady. She has a lot of experience though and she wisely added extra support by putting one leg on a stool.

Whenever confronted with a long pose where the model is standing you've got to anticipate more movement than usual as it's a lot more strenuous because they have to constantly stay on balance. So if one leg gets tired they will have to shift their weight to the other and in so doing will alter the angle on many forms slightly. For this reason I usually attempt to articulate the most difficult aspects of the figure first on standing poses. As the model is less fatigued at the start and will generally be more steady. The head especially moves a lot towards the end of long standing poses. Even with the best models.  

Untitled #58

Untitled #58

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

This 40 min. charcoal portrait was completed at the El Camino Community College Life Drawing Marathon in the L.A. area. These are held once a month. In one room there are short poses and in another there is one long pose all day. Some artists have been attending these for years and it's always a nice mix of students, professionals, hobbyists and newcomers. 

Untitled #126

Untitled #126

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

This 40 min. pose was drawn at Location 1980 in Orange County a few years ago. Working big like this can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, but it really gets the blood running as you have to use your whole arm to cover the ground of the paper. You really have to let go. 

For me at least - this helps me get into the "zone" as it seems to shut down the Prefrontal Cortex part of the brain that can be so stifling when working. When this part of the brain goes silent there is no future, there is no past, there is only the moment in front of you and it can be an amazing mental state to work in. Time ceases to exist.

Untitled #93

Untitled #93

22" X 30"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

In this 40 min. drawing I spent most of my time on attempting to capture the likeness of the model. I left the hair and many aspects of the drawing as mere suggestions. I do this often, and not just because of time constraints, but because I've been a fan of the vignetted composition going back to when I was a kid.

There were two kinds of portraits of George Washington hanging on many classroom walls when I was growing up. The finished version, and the unfinished version. I always found the unfinished version much more fascinating. The exposure of the process in a work of art just seems to affect the senses in a way that "finished" work does not. It's a bit like seeing the face in the vase optical illusion and perceptually going back and forth in your mind between the two objects. Somehow it's endlessly fascinating and gives a work a bit of an interactive element to it; because it requires perceptual participation on the part of the viewer to complete the visual sentences. 

Untitled #38

Untitled #38

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2012

This 40 min. contour study was completed the week after I went to see an exhibition of Klimt drawings at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. He was such a master draftsman with pure line, and he had this amazing knack to be able to capture subtle turns of the human head with such sensitive accuracy. As in this study of a child's head:  

The head is tilted along every axis in this study, and all of those small shapes on the child's left side are very carefully placed. Unless the head is propped up against a wall or other structure, this kind of head tilt is typically very difficult for a model to hold with any real accuracy over the length of a session as the muscles in the neck usually get sore.  This is another favorite:

All of these angles are very challenging when drawing from life because even the slightest movement can cause the perspective to shift, which can lead to problems of coherence. This is especially important in drawing out the angle of the eyes, mouth, jaw, and nose. One can imagine if the models head in the bottom study even turned the smallest amount you would no longer see the edge of the eye. Models are always moving in the slightest so these studies must have been a real workout for his visual memory and patience on his part, and the models. 

Untitled #31

Untitled #31

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

Back poses can present a challenge in that they can lack any area of interest oftentimes. I was lucky in this 40 minute pose to have something visually to hook on to; the model's scapula bones. She put her hands atop her head and all the torsion and tension related to the muscles that articulate with the scapula bones just popped right out. 

Most models don't exhibit this kind of bravado for longer poses - as it's easy to imagine the strain after a short time. So this was a really rare opportunity to witness this region in prolonged action.

Untitled #119

Untitled #119

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

This 40 min. pose from life worked out well in that the model displayed a nice shift between the head and torso directions. The models quiet and stoic expression lent itself well to the rigidity in his posture. This is no slouching pose.  

Ellipses, Spheres, and circular shapes are where my particular working attack of segmentation becomes the most evident, as in the oval shape at the bottom of the stool. It's very polygonal*, or as some would say; faceted.

*Polygon: A closed planar path comprised of a series of straight line segments. 

Untitled #194

Untitled #194

24" X 36"

Charcoal on Paper

2013

This was a 40 min. pose from life done at the DA Center in Pomona, California. It was nice to have the extra time to draw out the chair and complex interaction of shapes around her hands and feet. I feel compelled to articulate the surroundings if time allows and I think it will add something needed.