I made it back to life drawing last night, it was the first chance I've had to attend to my artistic life since the Taos workshop. The model had amazing pre-Raphaelite hair and when she turned her in head in this pose I jumped at the chance to draw a portrait. The language of drawing is different than the language of painting so it was an adjustment to be working with line again.
What is common in both, and also in yoga therapy and craniosacral is that Less is More. It's a universal principle. When we force we lose touch with the essence of our subject, we push our will onto it rather than give space to let it "what is" emerge. Sherrie pointed out that what people commonly see is optical illusion and it's up to the artist to point out the truth. I saw that when drawing both the lips and the outside edges of the eyebrows. They looked darker at first but when I actually followed the light they were not as dark as I originally thought. When I backed off from what my mind thought was true and became quieter and drew less the true essence of the model was able to emerge.
