Life Drawing and a Deep Breath

© 2013 R.L. Delight, 30 minute pose, charcoal on toned paper.

I guess I should give a heads up. Anytime there is "Life Drawing" in the post title, you will be seeing drawings of nude people.This got pretty smudged up on the walk home. I hadn't intended to take a picture of it but after thinking about it, thought I would post it.
I sure wish life drawing were mandatory in all schools. Perhaps if it were many more people would see the incredible beauty of the human form, both female and male, in all its variety. I think we would have a lot more respect for our own bodies no matter what the shape and color, and the ridiculous, narrow, confining, and sometimes insulting*, definition of what female (and male) beauty that is held up as a standard today would be seen for what it truly is, a blasphemy against nature (or your choice of diety).
OK, stepping down from my soapbox now. I always feel that way after a life drawing session as I am always awed anew at the beautiful human form. I have drawn all ages, shapes, colors, sizes, and genders and have yet to not feel that awe.
I am improving, slowly as I don't get to life drawing as much as I would like to. That is OK though, for now. I am about to get less life drawing in as plein air season is upon us and I am about to go full steam ahead. This blog should be humming after the past few weeks of quiet so batten down the hatches a paint storm is a-coming.



* Yes, I believe the models used in said narrow standard definition of beauty are in fact, as beautiful as you and I, but what I find insulting is that the images are digitally manipulated beyond what the human form actually is and are often used, not to portray beauty, but to sell a product through the prostitution of the human form. Don't get me started on the pressure to surgically enhance ones body to fit that standard! Strong words I know, and fine lines and slippery slopes are included.

Notes on Notan

I have been enjoying the free painting lessons on YouTube by Richard Robinson. I particularly liked the concept of this one on Notan design. The video is not quite five minutes long and gives a good idea on what it is about. In a nutshell Notan is: "... the concept of light and dark design underlying many great paintings." It is a good tool to develop and use when designing a composition for a drawing or painting. I thought I would play around with this in this post today.
Thursday I lucked out and had relatively good weather for my morning plein air jaunt. Here is a picture of the early morning light just coming over the Coast Range to illuminate Neahkahnie mountain.

I ended up painting a wave study as I could not get a good position to paint this scene due to the morning sun being full on my easel and an incoming tide on my left. I have a plein air umbrella on the way to hopefully solve that issue. I like this shot though and decided to play around in Photoshop to take a look at what the Notan would look like for this picture as is. Here is the results:

Photoshop is a little on the heavy side. I will try this using black ink in the studio tomorrow. I  use thumbnail sketches as a composition and design tool but Notan captured my interest as well. I am going to use it in my future paintings and will post my thoughts on it. If you decide to try this, or already use this technique, in whatever media, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to leave it in a comment on this post.
My copper painting is progressing slowly due to drying times but it is progressing. I am continuing to enjoy working on copper and will be trying it more often in the future.  It has been a busy week with performances and painting in between.
Those of you on the East coast who are dealing with hurricane Sandy stay safe!
-Renee