SUSAN'S . . . PLAYING AGAIN!

YELLOW SIDE VIEW  pastel on wood circle This is a small pastel drawn from life a week ago.  And I decided the last 40 minutes to paint this.  Such a stoic, beautiful model!

PURPLE + YELLOW SKETCH 14" x 11" pastel on paper Last Friday I went to life drawing. Just love the  time engrossed in observing another's  mannerisms. I'm also curious on what the model's actually thinking while posing. Are they at a far-away place, traveling to another location and time? 

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.

MALE MODEL  pastel on paper Plugging away on many things, but I did happen to go to life drawing a couple of days ago.  Men are such a challenge - and with glasses to boot.  Lines, lines, lines . . .  and color everywhere!

SET OF 3 MODELS pastel sketches on paper Since last year and January was so busy for me, I'm  now reevaluating where I am at. So much has been  going on between meetings, classes and working, that  now I've stopped to assess the direction my art is going.  Do any of you experience this?  I'm wanting to push out of my safe zone and play  with varied subject matter and styles. But regardless where  I'm at, color has always been the primary key which is evident  with the above sketches created in life drawing sessions.  So even though I've been quiet over here, there has been  progress and development which I'll be sharing soon.  And now . . . I'm skipping along and searching.

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! 

MALE STUDY pastel on paper Last Wednesday was life drawing day and the  model was a male. For some reason males are  more difficult.

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.         

A REGAL LOOK * 10" round pastel on wood panel *detail of image And this is the second piece I worked on  for two hours at life drawing yesterday.  Only about halfway done, but you can see  my layering to build up the image.  The first layer is created with a pastel wash  to build up a mid-tone.Then the top sequential  layers are pastel strokes, alternating between  blunt to broad strokes.   Really liking the wood as a substrate . . .  fun, fun, fun!

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!

Model on 6/6/18 pastel on paper I really enjoy drawing from life!  Not only to capture the model's personality  and demeanor, but also the opportunity for  me to phase-out life. Amazing how everyday's  turmoils and chores muddle the brain.    

PROFILE OF A MODEL pastel on paper Playing some more during a life drawing session.  Think she has an attitude huh?

BLONDE MODEL pastel on paper Difficult but pleasing to draw from life. 

RED SKETCH  pastel on paper This was a day of playing with color!  As I drew from life I focused on the application of a  different color palette than I typically use and also strayed away from creating a figurative-accurate image. Do you play? 

TURQUOISE PROFILE  pastel on paper The second portrait from life and loving the colors! 

PINK + BLUE FACE pastel on paper Today was Friday, so back to life drawing!  This was my first sketch and playing with color. I've been on a mini trip for a few days, so it felt  so good to return to drawing.  And nothing like from an actual model!