Shifting Paradigms

I did not post last week as the school work was still in progress. It also had been one of the hardest weeks I have had in school. The thing I know for sure about weeks when you feel like you are going backwards is that they usually indicate a large leap in learning. Honestly, it was the only thing that comforted me a bit. The offending study is this one:

This is a drawing of a cast of Moses and he is quite large. We used a full sheet of paper instead of our previous half sheets. That uses quite a bit of charcoal. I am still using my homemade charcoal here and, if the weather will cooperate, I hope to perfect it as it isn't quite up to the standard I was used to in drawing charcoal. I went absolutely backward one day and my drawing got quite out of control. A few sweaty hours later I had managed to gain the upper hand, barely. It was a huge learning experience and one that makes me grateful I have a skilled teacher to give me a boost.
We are still spending afternoons with figure drawing. This last session was 6 sessions or 18 hours. We were drawing my favorite female model and it was a pleasure but still challenging. Here she is:

Considering this is my first year in school, I am quite please with how close the likeness was. You will have to take my word for it as I will not be taking pictures of the live models to post. I really like figure drawing even more than I though I would. There is just something about working with a live person that adds an extra element to the creation. It also adds difficulty as the model moves, a lot. I am learning to deal with that too.
The paradigm shift? That was the words the master teacher used when telling me how my work was coming along. I have definitely noticed a difference in my work and how much I understand. I am not sure that I have had a paradigm shift as it seems like quite a strong statement. I do know my level of understanding has increased. Perhaps it is one of those things that a teacher can see better than the student. In any case, I am grateful for the learning and also humbled by just how much there is yet to learn. I certainly won't be able to learn everything in a year or two.
That leads me to my future. We have a place to rent in Manzanita and are very excited about it. We will be moving our belongings up north starting in July. It will be nice to escape the heat once a month and spend a long weekend at the cooler coast. Of course, the heat hasn't made it here yet but I know it will come. I will be posting pictures of our new town now and again. I also have been making plans to continue my studies. That will be a topic for another post in the near future.
We will be starting a new drawing, or maybe even painting (I hope) next week and have already started a new figure drawing. Less than a month to go until our two week break!
-Renee

Pain Can Be a Good Teacher....Uh Huh!

We have had a couple of busy weeks lately so I missed posting last weekend. We took an unexpected trip up north to Manzanita, OR. Manzanita is a lovely little town on the north coast of Oregon and is soon to be our future home town.
It really is a good thing I like to juggle as it seems I have been doing a lot of juggling of tasks lately. In addition to daily life and working hard at school, I am reaching out a bit into the future to find a place to rent in the fall. Usually that is not such a problem but Manzanita is a tiny town of less than 800 souls and with a large number of short term vacation rentals but not many long term ones.
I have been occasionally checking Craigslist even though we are still a few months out and, much to my amazement, I found the perfect house. It has everything I clearly stated, out-loud and in writing, that I wanted. To make a long story short, we took a spur-of-the-moment trip up north and took a look. We submitted our application this week and are waiting to hear back from the landlady, who amazingly enough, lives here in Ashland! So, at the moment, we are keeping our fingers crossed.
In the meantime, there has been a lot of growth in the learning department for me at school. Alas,  I wish I could take a picture and point out all the areas of growth. I also wish I could tell you that it was a lovely joyful journey but we all know that just isn't the way it works!
One of my fellow art students is a gentleman in his 70's (I think) who told me that all his friends tell him how lucky he is since he just gets to relax, lounge around, and learn art. He laughs and says, "if they only knew how painful it is!" Painful indeed. Relaxing? More like blood, sweat, and tears (sometimes lots of tears)! Lest I get carried away and unintentionally scare someone away from putting in the time to learn art, the rewards for your toils are beyond imagining!
Yesterday I started out to work on my charcoal drawing and, after three hours of painful confusion, I made it worse! My drawing seized control from my tenuous grasp and merrily ran all over me. Yes, it really is possible! It sort of felt like opening an old fashioned wind-up watch case only to have all the springs sproing out all over the room. Finally, at the end of those three sweaty hours, I managed to coral it back in place where hopefully it will be docilely waiting for me on Tuesday.
The rewards for all that pain? My knowledge and skill took a giant leap forward! No worries though, I know very well that I will be taking a few steps back too. I managed to pull myself together during lunch (and after a phone call to my husband to lament, OK, whinge, a bit) so that I was able to take a few baby steps forward during our long-pose figure drawing session.
So, what do I have to show you this week? Well, the drawings from last week that I didn't get a chance to post. Here they are, the first is a photo of the actual cast, the second the final drawing, after 12 hours. It was a shorter session so the drawing is not as finished as the longer ones.

This guy is a true block head. We are currently working on another cast, the one that beat me up yesterday, and the long pose figure drawing. I will take a few pictures in progress but not the whole progression for next week. In the meantime, the weather is really trying hard to warm up and be, well, spring. I am aslo enjoying my walks to school through the lovely town of Ashland. Hope to have good news to report on the house statues next week. Until then, -Renee

Finishing up the Figure Sessions

As I mentioned in the previous post, this particular figure drawing was a four session drawing. That is four, three hour sessions for a total of 12 hours. We finished up our first long pose model drawing session Thursday afternoon. The first picture was taken after session three. We had to stop an hour early as the model was too tired to go on. We spent the last hour taking turns posing for our classmates and sketching.

The final picture is after the fourth and final session. The changes are very subtle. I was focusing mainly on getting the contours of the body right.

For some reason, the model kept moving around more than usual. I guess that goes with the territory. I believe our next model session will be longer. We are also working on a charcoal drawing of a plaster cast. I will have the pictures of that process for the next post as we have one more session to go on that one.
It is warming up weather-wise. My walks to school are quite pleasant at this time. When it gets hot I might be in a bit of trouble though as I don't take the heat very well! I can't believe we will only be here another five months. It goes by so very fast. We are already looking for a place to rent in Manzanita, OR. I will be continuing my studies on my own. I had planned to be in school for at least four years so I will take that same time to truly study and work before launching myself into the art world. I have very definite plans of what I want to paint and that will take quite a bit of skill. More than I have at the moment, so I am working hard!
Until next week, -Renee

Another New Week

This week was different from our first week as well. We are working on another bust with charcoal drawing. I don't have pictures of the drawing yet but it is a four session drawing. We have only had one session so far and I will take a picture of that before working on it again so I can show the progression. I do have pictures of the afternoon figure drawing sessions. It too is a four session drawing and we have done two sessions so far. Here is the first one:

An interesting young man. As you might be able to tell, his head is shaved except for a forelock. He also has several piercings and many tatoos. I must say he is very interesting to draw and seems like a sweet person. It is challenging to draw longer poses as the model takes a break every 20 minutes and a few days pass in between sessions. That means things move, sometimes a lot. I new challenge to learn for me.
Here is the second session. I should add here that each session is 3 hours long.

Things have changed a bit including some of my technique as that is a learning curve too. Input from the instructors can also make you change tactics. I have not drawn the stool he is sitting on yet but if you look close, you can see the beginnings of the foot rest. You might also notice I made his head bigger as it was definitely too small in the first session drawing. For addtional interest, I took a picture of our set-up during the break. This is sort of what it looks like when we work.

I am at the far end of this curve and you cannot see my easel. All of us students are working on this one from us first years to the fourth and beyond years so you will see different levels of skill and techniques. It is a wonderful way to work and I am going to miss it when we are finished this year.
At the moment, I am making more charcoal and enjoying the warm spring weather we are having. More to come next week, -Renee

Figure Drawing

This has been a very busy week. I am back at school and we started figure drawing. It feels good to be standing at an easel and moving around instead of sitting. We are doing mostly short poses this week to warm us up and get into the rhythm. Figure drawing is a progression. We start with short one minute poses, move to 2, 3, and 5 minute poses and then a couple of 10 minute poses. Thursday afternoon we did a 2 1/2 hour pose ( the model poses for 20 minutes at a time before taking a short 5 minute break so a 2 1/2 hour pose is broken up into 20 minute segments with the model taking the same pose after each break). So here is what a one minute pose/sketch looks like:

The most important factor that must be found first is the gesture. Without a good depiction of the gesture, perfect proportions and detail would not be relevant. You would have a pretty picture but it would look stiff and not realistic. As one can imagine, we work hard at capturing gesture and it isn't easy, at least, not for me at this point!
Here is a 3 minute pose:

At this time, we are working with charcoal on newsprint. This next pose is a 5 minute pose and I am starting to put in shadow:

This final pose is in charcoal on Canson Mi Tientes charcoal paper and is the 2 1/2 hour pose. Notice there is still very little detail as at this time I was also working on getting the proportions right. That is still a challenge for me, specially with the human figure.

Friday afternoon we were back to construction drawing but now of plaster busts. A challenging and exciting week all around. I really do like figure drawing so far.
On the home front, I have a new easel and have had to make room in my little room for it. I have been going through boxes and bins cleaning out and shifting things around. Today I managed to convince my husband to pose for me over an hour to get a bit more figure sketching in, and try out the new easel of course! Next week will be interesting, exciting, and challenging too. Until then, -Renee

Evolution of a Charcoal Study- Final Day and Done!

Well, here she is. This is what I was able to achieve after 36 hours of work. Is it done? Not really but, as this is a study, the purpose has been achieved. The purpose is for learning of course! Learning to draw proportion, shapes, form. Learning to use charcoal and to work with tone. Learning a bit about the human form which we will be jumping into next term. Today was the last day of the second term. The school year is half over! It seems like I am just getting started and now I have to cram in as much as possible since instead of four years, I only have one. So very much I have yet to learn.
I am truly appreciative for what schooling I can get. At the moment our plan is to move to the North Coast of Oregon where I will study on my own. We are hoping to be able to regroup and get to Maui in a couple of years. I would like to go for at least another year to finish up. Studying on my own will be a tremendous challenge. I am using much of my free time this year researching and getting that set up. The upside is I will save on tuition! What I save will be spent on art supplies, studio set up, and learning tools.
The area we are moving to has a large art community. I am hoping to find mentors, peers, and new art friends there.
Well, I have a two week (plus a few days)  break. I will be doing a bit of drawing and experimenting with charcoal and charcoal making, but I also will be catching up on other areas of my life. Posting will probably be a bit sporadic. Next term should be interesting as there will be more figure drawing.
I do have a note of warning, our female models are nude so the drawings will be too. The male models have the genital area covered so they will not be completely nude (don't get me started on the double standard there!). If you find nude art drawing offensive consider yourselves warned! I can honestly say that I enjoy drawing the beauty and wonder of the human form. I have learned to appreciate that beauty so much more by drawing it in all its various shapes and forms. I wish life drawing were in our schools, I think the incredibly narrow definition of human beauty in our society would be redefined.
Until next month! -Renee

Evolution of a Charcoal Study - Day 5

Well, here is the drawing after today's work. We have one more day, six more hours, to finish the study. Finishing the study doesn't necessarily mean that the drawing is finished though. These are studies after all. This has been quite the challenge so far. The good thing about that is challenge = learning. That is what I am here for! I will post the completed study next time. -Renee