Eighty-Seven

It was a long pose so I got the opportunity to draw the same thing again. It's interesting how she came out looking so different. I like the softness of this drawing, but I feel it needs more contrast, which I'm realizing is really hard to get when using conte on newsprint. But I like that she has softer features here than in the first drawing.

Eighty-Eight

I finally made it to a life drawing session. I could only stay for an hour and I felt very rusty but it also felt good to be there. 

Copying someone else's drawings is great because they're making all the artistic decisions for you. It was scary to be set free with a real face before me. But I could feel how the practice helped me to know what to look for when I was out there on my own.

Eighty-Nine

A sketch of a metal sculpture from a book of Buddhist Art. It's so hard to get time for drawing and when I do I'm flooded with the feeling of wanting to spend a whole day doing it. A yoga teacher once said in class, "Isn't it funny how when something feels good you say to yourself this feels so good I should do it everyday! And with that thought you take yourself right out of the moment.

Ninety

Study (after Sherrie McGraw). I find it amazing to watch both Sherrie McGraw and Rob Liberace draw. They both use a very light touch. I'm naturally heavy handed and have had to learn to lighten up. I struggle to believe that less is more.

With a light touch the soul can rise to the surface. -Hugh Milne, "The Heart of Listening"

Ninety-One

Study (after Sherrie McGraw). When you're struggling, stepping away can help you see. Maybe the neck is too short. But it might not be that the neck is too short, it could be that the ear is too low, the chin too long, or that back of the skull does not go out far enough. 

Tension in the shoulders might be coming from unstable hips, a clenched jaw, the inability to expand the ribs to take a full breath, or difficulty finding the feet on the ground in order to truly be here. And it's when you look too hard that you can't see it.

Ninety-Two

Study (after Sherrie McGraw). I love this model. He looks very Taos to me and that would make sense because that's where Sherrie lives. I notice when I get lost in a drawing, instead of backing away, I will get hawkish and keep darkening the dark parts, tracing again and again over the contours that are already there. 

The tendency, when you are lost, is to hammer away at what you already know, hoping that if you keep trodding the same path it will somehow lead you to a new place. But it's too much focus that makes it so you can't see.

Ninety-Three

Study (after Sherrie McGraw). It was with this drawing that I realized I really need to invest in some better paper. I've been doing these on newsprint and and there's a point where the materials turn to mush and you can't go either lighter or darker. And if you keep pushing it the paper falls apart. Although there are details I'm not happy with in this drawing, I do like the overall mood it captured.

But, it reminds me of my original intent, to not just copy but to understand.