Life drawing at Bath Artist Studios...

 10 minute sketch

I thought it was about time I got back to some life drawing after yet another long gap without doing any at all! So yesterday I went along to the six hour life day that happens every couple of months at Bath Artist Studios. It's been well over a year since I last went along to a life day and I was seriously rusty! But it was great to get drawing again with a good model and to chat to other like-minded artists.

A life drawing day once every blue moon isn't quite the same as a regular run of weekly sessions, but it is so hard to find both time and money to keep up a weekly course. I think I will try and get to a life session somewhere once a month if I can - I do love it, though it is always so challenging...

The first sketch above was actually the very last quick one I did right at the end as an afterthought  in the last ten minutes, but actually its the drawing I liked best.

Here's some of the very rough and ready five minute warm up sketches that we started with, trying to get my eye and hand back in:  

And then one of the ten minute sketches (below), trying to make more of an effort to take time to measure properly which wasn't entirely successful!

Finally two different viewpoints of the last longer pose (in fact the first example at the top of this post was a third view of this same pose)

 45 minute sketch

This 45 minute one was a lovely pose, but I felt my handling of the charcoal was very murky and laboured so it isn't one I particularly like. The 1 hour hour one below had some lovely lighting (with a very tricky bit of foreshortening on the right leg that rather stumped me!)

1 hour sketch

So there we are, not the most spectacular results but great to make a way back into drawing from life again. I am itching to do some more now - I learn so much from this and I really have missed it.

A friend to my surprise recently asked me, don't you get embarrassed by the nudity? The truth is it has never occurred to me that there would be anything to be embarrassed about. I have been life drawing on and off for the last 18 years and have never felt uncomfortable with any of the models I have drawn. In fact quite often you can chat to a model and completely forget that they haven't got any clothes on! 

I just become immediately absorbed by the line and form, light and shade, and abstract composition of shape the body makes and try to capture that on the paper. 

The human form I have always found a beautiful and fascinating subject to draw, the dynamic and energy of body language and expression in a pose, the energy and movement, tension or subtle poise all express so much. And then there's the fascination of muscle and sinew, the skeletal frame beneath, the way the light excentuates the hidden structures.

I wonder for any of you who love drawing the figure, what is it that you enjoy most about it?

More Life Drawing at Bath Artists Studios...

5 minute pose

Firstly, thankyou to all who left such encouraging comments on my Dragon spread, its really great to get feedback and I really appreciate your words and thoughts! I haven't put the silver leaf on that one yet but I have started the 2nd spread... I'm only doing three, just enough to give an impression of what the finished book would be like because I know editors are likely to want things changed!

So anyway, yesterday I went to another six hour life drawing workshop, this time at Bath Artist Studios which I hadn't been to before. It was great, a big life room but with a friendly, relaxed kind of atmosphere, lots of private artists studios as well and a big common room with comfy sofas and a kettle!
I haven't done any proper drawing since Salisbury back in August so I was quite rusty as usual and it took a while to get back up to speed!
We started with some 5 minute warm ups (though I prefer to start with even quicker gestures of one or two minutes usually) here's some of them...

This is my usual approach of line, gesture and frantic measuring, which means I don't get a great deal down in the 5 minutes especially before I've found my stride!
The tutor suggested an approach I hadn't tried before which was to use a broad flat edge of charcoal to 'block in' the mass or shape of the whole form very quickly and loosely and then work in with line afterwards...
Heres a couple of 2 minute examples, quite interesting...

So I thought I'd try starting with this approach on a longer pose and see how it went... it certainly got me a lot further on a lot quicker and simplified the measuring to some extent. And it did leave me more time for rendering and enjoying the shadows... this pose below was 40 minutes...

The last part if the afternoon was one long pose, so I started with some very quick rough prelims to find all the lines through the form...

Then worked in charcoal trying to remember all of the various techniques I have learned over the last few years, but still had a great deal of trouble with the bent knee!

This one (above) was about an hour and a half, (I think her head and right arm are a little out of proportion though!) Finally I decided to have a bit of a play with dip pen and ink, with some white gouche highlights for the last 10 minutes - its great fun, but I find you have to be bold, and just go for it! All in all a very enjoyable day!

At last, some more Life Drawing!

2 minute warm up in dip pen and indian ink

A while ago now I lost my evening Life sessions at Stony Street Studios due to low numbers and have really missed it. Drawing the figure is something I have absolutely loved ever since my first life drawing class aged about seventeen in the wonderful old ramshackle Georgian building that was Sydney Place in Bath. It was a rambling maze of corridors and winding stairs, odd little cubby hole studios and huge high ceiling rooms with enormous windows. I learnt a lot in the few weeks I did Life drawing there, but sadly never got to do my Foundation course in that building. The year I went to Foundation college they moved it from Sydney Place with its gardens and beautiful architecture, to the basement of the old Victorian hospital in the city centre that used to be the morgue! No windows! Never mind!

Head study 2 minutes

Anyway, I am really pleased to have found a once a month Life session at Shortcombe Studio, run by an Artist friend of my mums, which will help cure my itchy fingers. It is in a beautiful setting overlooking the Chew Valley lakes, all huge skies and wide open landscapes - next time I will take my camera and show you the view...

So, my first life session in a few weeks - here's the rest of the results...

2 minute dip pen and indian ink

30 second poses

4 minute pose, back to the good old charcoal!

5 minute pose

another 5 minute pose

about 8 minutes for this one I think

10 minute pose

And finally another 10 minute pose...

I did miss the longer poses today and was itching to use my ink and gouche a bit more but its great to have a model to draw again... looking forward to next month!

This week's life drawings...

Here's this weeks life drawings...
I was late so missed all the short poses unfortunately...
So having rushed, rushed, rushed straight from work to school, it was off to the dentist with big daughter, over to pick up littlest daughter, back to work to pick up husband, deliver some framed pictures, grab hasty supper on the run, dash into town... sneak late into the studio mid-pose, sit, sketchbook out, pencil, to paper, and draw... phew!

Not what you'd call a calm and focussed state of mind, but she was a lovely new model who just radiated serenity so I think that really helped!
She held great poses too, this first stretching, twisting one she held perfectly for 10 minutes! Not even a sway or a waiver, really impressive - shame I couldn't fit her on the page! Lacking hands and feet my drawing doesn't really illustrate just how stretched she was, the placing and weight balance of her feet would've been crucial really to show this... never mind, great pose.

10 minute pose

15 minutes

(getting to grips with my brand new charcoal pencil that's replaced the inch long remains of my favourite one...)

30 minute pose

And the final 30 minute pose (slightly levitating!)

Having arrived late I didn't get organised to try working in different mediums this week, but I am determined to break out of my comfort zone next time... I might have to leave my beloved charcoal at home to make me do it!

Tonight's Life Drawings...

30 minute pose

I made it to another evening life session at the Stony Street studios tonight, though it seems the evening sessions might not be continuing for too much longer unless more people start coming along. It would be a real shame from my point of view because the evenings are the only ones I can get to right now. So, out with the flyers and posters methinks...!
Here are some of the drawings from tonight...


I think its time to replace my two favourite life drawing pencils, they're only about an inch long now... a lovely soft black charcoal and a soft sepia charcoal/pastal pencil that I've done most of the last year's worth of life drawings with. Only trouble is I can't remember exactly what they were...


However I did enjoy using the big chunky graphite stick for the 2 minute poses - you just can't fuss with it and the weight really encourages strong bold sweeping lines, I think I like it!
I feel nice and safe with my charcoal pencils, but it's probebly about time I tried some other mediums... I might even take watercolours next week... A good excuse to go shopping for new art materials!

Another Stony Street session...

5 minute pose

Well I managed to make it out to the life session again this week...
We had a fantastic model, really strong and great poses... but unfortunately it had been a very long day for me and I didn't have the focus or the concentration I needed to do her justice.
It's so frustrating sometimes when the model strikes a really great dynamic pose and the light and shadows are just right, but the pencil turns to a lumpy cumbersome stick and my brain and fingers are at odds! Oh well...
Here are the best of the worst from tonight...

5 minutes

15 minutes

30 minute pose (some odd proportions going on there!)

And the final 30 minute pose

I felt like I was wrestling with it tonight but its really great to get out and draw finally! Looking forward to doing some more next time...

At last, back in the Life Studio!

5 minute pose

My first life session in six months!
I admit I did feel very rusty indeed having hardly drawn at all for the last few weeks... When I don't draw everything feels stiff and difficult and ideas can't flow onto the page because I'm so conscious of my hand getting in the way of my mind if you know what I mean!

So I intend to have another decent run of life sessions to break me back in. Just seeing the other people's drawings was very inspiring in itself - especially one lady who's style I just love.
Last night she was using chinese inks with homemade bamboo quills, brush and water - wonderful, wonderful results, so flowing and intuitive - and certainly made my own drawing style feel very stiff and self conscious.
But that's what is so good about working within a group, so many other approaches to learn from and be inspired by...
Here's a few more of mine again from last night...

5 minute pose

10 minutes

30 minutes
(just couldn't nail down the foreshortening on that knee - ooh that sounds a bit brutal doesn't it, ouch!)

And 30 minutes again, though there's some very strange proportions going on here... ahem!

Looking forward to next time, though I think its time to replace my favourite charcoal pencil - it's only an inch and a half long now!

Tuesday's life drawing (And didn't I used to paint once?)

I finally made it to life drawing this week and picked up a pencil for the first time in nearly a month! The model did some great poses but my hand and eye weren't quite up to speed which was a shame...
This is the closest thing to a finished sketch I've got so far at these sessions (about an hour) although there is a lot wrong with it... I would have liked to have captured the lovely fluid sinuous curve of her back a bit better - it has ended up with some stiffness in the upper back which wasn't present in her pose. I think perhaps some of the shadows are not quite right there in the shoulders too which doesn't help the form.
Although I usually never go back to a life study without the model in front of me, I am tempted just to go and take out some of that straightness of the line from her left shoulder in the hope the curves will flow better... maybe...

This was the other passable sketch of about 30 minutes...

The business has really taken over completely these last couple of months so I've barely had time to see my children never mind think about artwork! Exhaustion has well and truly set in now as well, but hopefully we can settle back down to some kind of normal routine soon and I can get back my children ( who have been so, so good) and my art!
So, sorry for the lack of art posts lately, but sooner or later I shall rediscover my poor forgotten paintbrushes! (Just one big nightmarish mountain of books and tax returns to go! Arrgh!)

A bit more life drawing!

Well things have been so busy lately and only getting busier, I haven't had chance to even think about picking up a pencil in what seems like a long, long time! I am really missing my life drawing these past couple of weeks, it has been the one thing keeping my hand in while the illustration has been on indefinate hold...
So, to make me feel better about having no artwork to post up, here are the last set of life drawings from the last time I went 2 weeks ago. I didn't get around to posting them at the time...
She was a lovely model with the most beautiful profile - the kind of face I'd easily imagine Gabriel Rossetti drawing. In fact next time I have chance to draw her I intend to do a proper portrait study of her profile... I always end up focussing so much on getting down the poses that the faces are usually neglected, so I must try to draw her face!

5 minute pose

5 minutes again

15 minutes

Her lovely profile

30 minutes and floating up in the air unfortunately! Ran out of time to ground her!

And another 30 minute pose ( but with a terrible facial likeness!)

If the shop move goes to plan this weekend I should get a chance to attend the next session the following week hopefully! Really can't wait...