I can imagine myself drawing mostly the human form for the rest of my life. This was not the outcome I expected from devoting my sabbatical to art. I thought I’d mostly be making abstract collages, and while I did some of that, I’m feeling blocked in that kind of art, which is something to tackle eventually. I didn’t expect to find figure drawing so exhilarating that I would look forward to Monday mornings the way I look forward to Girl Scout cookie season. Every pose is a treat. No, I’m not doing it justice–it’s more like a religious experience. (Well, maybe Thin Mints are also.) I can’t really write any more about that. After Sunday my ability to express a spiritual moment in words is tapped out.

It’s so instructive to look at these (drawings from last Monday, 2/28) in thumbnail versions–it gives me a similar perspective to seeing them from across a large room.  Three things I’m learning, looking at them, that I want to keep in mind when I get to the studio in a hour:

  1. A tighter focus is yielding good results–don’t try to take in the whole body.  Keep working on small sections and really get into them in detail.
  2. Don’t use the pencil for shading.  Stick with the broad side of the charcoal stick for now.
  3. Go straight to the shadows. That shadow along her right ribs and wrist in (e) begins to give the whole drawing the depth and aliveness that I’m going for.
Advertisement