Drawing Marathon

Twice a year River Gallery School puts on a 12 hour life drawing event. Ten AM found 12 plus artists from New England and NYC lined up at our easels, shuffling palettes, chalks, pencils. With the first model on the stand quiet descended and the rhythm of the day took shape. There was music and scratching on paper and three very different models...they posed for quick 1 minute poses to "get acquainted", then a couple 5 minute and a 10 minute and a 20 minute pose. Then several 30 minute poses, until their 3 hour stint was up and a different model replaced them. I am happy to say that about 4 artists finished out the day. I was not one of them...my recent hand injury cramped my style after 9 hours, but I am all ready looking forward to spring 2014 to the next marathon.

That much time and that many poses lets one explore a new medium or a fresh idea.  I worked in charcoal most of the day, trying to express how I felt about each pose...and trying not to make the same familiar miscalculations over and over; trying to let the drawing flow out of me unhindered by my own criticisms and crutches; guiding with a light touch.

Stephanie's Afternoon at the Studio

This is my fourth and last drawing in the four-week January mini-semester at the River Gallery School of Art in Brattleboro, Vermont. My intention for this final week was to complete an 18 x 18in. drawing of the model and surrounding elements:draperies, windows, etc. I wanted to get the values right while preserving a likeness in a sensitive contour drawing of the model. I feel that I was mildly successful...at least it was a big jump ahead from week one's effort. I also wanted to preserve some of the excitement and strength of the abstract 5-minute thumbnail I always start with. That I'm still hoping to achieve. Next time. It is good to have a goal and a project hanging around in my thoughts for a week, until the next class.

I used carbon pencils on cream canson paper.

Yes, a new semester starts next Tuesday for me with a 10-class session of Life drawing...so stay tuned.

I am working on two new pastel paintings, too; Yellow House and Purple House.

I did a Marathon!

OK, stop laughing, it was a 12 hour life drawing marathon at the River Gallery School of Art in Brattleboro VT. I can't believe I finished it...totally surprised myself. At the end of the 12th hour there were only a handful still standing (slumping over my easel trying not to fall off my stool and fearing I wouldn't walk the next day) just me and some cute boys about one third my age, who must have shared some of their youthful energy.

Matt Peake, one of the instructors from the school, facilitated the event; coordinating models and setting up lights, backdrops, poses. There was no official instruction, but Matt was generous in helping participants achieve success with their drawings and paintings. I usually sketch in ink and I think I was the only one using it. Others used charcoal, pencil, conte, watercolor, acrylic and pastel. It was a great chance to experiment with medium or just to stick with one thing and really explore that for all poses....about 35, counting some very short warm-up poses. I hope they do it again so I can finally say at the end of a life drawing session, "I'm ready to stop drawing and go home." I am usually the one who does not want it to end. Apparently I am not alone. Why else would someone even think up a life drawing marathon?

BTW, if you are not a committed sketcher of the human figure, you may not understand the purpose life drawing has traditionally and still fulfills for an artist. Since the human form is complex and difficult to draw accurately it hones the observation skills of artists who practice it regularly, often frustrating and infuriating them, too. It is undertaken for the practice, not for the end product. That is why my life drawings can most often be viewed at Recycling.