SUSAN'S . . . PLAYING AGAIN!

Last Wednesday I went drawing at The Artist Studio  in Albuquerque. AND the model did not show up, so  this wonderful person posed rather than draw herself.  And Gina did a fantastic job! Actually she was better thank many of the other models. Below is the initial start of this 2 1/2 hour pose.

MANY COLORS  pastel on paper A little late here, but this is a piece I worked on at last  week's life drawing session. Heidi is a wonderful model  and so enjoy sketching her!  Below is the vamp-in after the first hour. Been experimenting  with laying a base of 3 colors prior to the beginning of  sketching. Gives a nice under-base to build upon. And  going out of my norm'  by use of bright, strong colors. Do  tend to use a lot of light blues and turquoise.

PURPLE MODEL 14" h x 11" w pastel sketch Today I spent 1/2 day sketching. And I so enjoy the time to get lost in my thoughts! The above sketch was executed in about 2 hours.

TURBAN  pastel on paper Getting back to my routine - sure feels good!  (& unbelievable 1/2 the month has already gone by!)  So today I went to life drawing and struggled away for 2 hours on a full body image that was going  nowhere. Then jammed this out the last hour. 

FEMALE MODEL  pastel on paper This sketch was completed in a hour during a life drawing  session a couple of days ago. Feels so good to be back  onto a schedule here! Time flies and I always seem to have  something popping up, but these drawing sessions really  help strengthen one's eye and hand coordination. And of course, pop of colors always brighten the day! 

Blocked in study in pastels On Wednesday I usually go to life drawing.  It's so educational to draw a model from life!  There seems to be a sense of 'freshness' that's  nonparallel to  working from a photo.  Above is my first stage of blocking in the  red-headed model. I underlaid three pastel  shades onto the paper before starting to sketch to give a nice undertone.  Below is a more progressed stage.         

FACIAL STUDY  6" x 6" pastel on canvas Wednesdays have been my day of life drawing. And lately I've been playing with different bases to  study the effects with texture and application of color. Above ' Facial Study ', is my preliminary exploration of the model to work out positioning of her facial  features and shadowing, while executing onto a  square piece of canvas. The canvas is quite textured creating a "pebbly" effect with a subtle tone. I had spent about 1 1/2 hours on this before venturing  onto a larger wood substrate. I'll post that tomorrow so you can see the difference in color and texture.

PARASOL 12" x 9" pastel on paper Wednesday was a morning of life drawing . . .   so relaxing of a day! Paraso l is one of the 2 sketches I created  at The Artists Studio in Albuquerque. And such a great model!