Life drawing - old and new...

30 minute pose

Life drawing is a great love of mine - I've been hooked since the age of 17 and done various fits and starts of it over the last 15 years... The last serious bout was an 8 week evening course 2years ago with a superb tutor - Sean Slater of Line and Form. His life paintings are wonderful and he's one of the best life tutors I have known, I learnt so much from him.

But of course, just as I felt I was starting to make real progress, the course ended. I managed one of his 6 hour life workshops which was excellent (& exhausting!) but its just a little too far to travel often.

Here are some more of the drawings I did with Sean's excellent tutorage...

One minute gesture poses which I love doing and are an invaluable warm up...

1minute again

30 minute pose

45 minute pose

1 hour pose

I wish I'd carried on from that point, but life gets in the way (in a big way sometimes!). I've been hankering after starting up again as regularly as possible, so I was really pleased to find an untutored drop in life group just 5 minutes away!

So, my first life drawings in two years? I felt very out of practice and there weren't many I could show without cringing - but it's a start, and I really enjoyed it... so here they are...

2 minutes

5 minutes

5 minutes

10 minutes

Looking forward to next weeks session...

So here goes... the first post!

Although rather apprehensive about 'putting myself out there', and would hate to come across as self indulgent, I have enjoyed and been inspired by so many wonderful arty blogs, I have a hankering to join in!
I intend using this blog rather selfishly as a motivational prompt to keep nurturing that creative spark so easily overwhelmed by the stresses of everyday, and to create a space to create.

I would love to share my love of of creative writing, art, mythology and wilderness - sometimes in words of my own, and sometimes sharing wordhoards of others who have inspired me.

I have had great fun already just designing my banner, though I was surprised how hard it was to choose a title...
'Images and Words' would have said it all but rather plainly - and only fellow Dream Theatre fans would have got the reference...!
Otherwise I would have loved to call it 'Wind Age, Wolf Age,' but it is afterall describing the end of the world so probebly not very appropriate for a creative blog! But how I love this passage...

'...An Axe-age, a Sword-age
Shields clashing,
A Wind-age, a Wolf-age
Until the World's ruin,
No man shall spare another...'
From the 'Voluspa' - Poetic Edda.

Anyway, I thought I'd start off by showing you a quick page of my sketchbook rather than make this too long and rambling!
Here is a little drawing of my elder daughter in the garden intended for a painting at some point...

And here is the quick watercolour study that followed...

Well, there goes the first post, I will try to post often, sometimes artwork, sometimes writing and literature, but I hope it becomes interesting to some of you out there and would love to hear your comments...

Best wishes, Carrie...