It’s the summer season, so we have less sessions now than during the calendar year. This means we meet every two weeks – and these alternate with portrait drawing sessions. I’ve been studying the head fairly intensively the past few years, but still, it’s just not my thing. Nothing warms me up faster than figure drawing – and nothing gets me singing louder than plain air painting.

OK.

So last night we had a new-to-me model. Ripped. He could make the simplest pose interesting just because of the way light fell across his form. Also, perhaps because he works out, he had a bodily ease about him that was palpable. Any pose he took felt so good and natural.

Relative to drawing, in general, I am still too slow, thinking before moving: placement on the page, proportion, gesture. Can I capture the overall feel in just one line? What is that line? Often the pose was over before I felt I had truly begun!

The good news is though that I am beginning to draw from memory – which makes me less dependent on the model (that’s huge!!!). If I can get a good drawing down, that blocks in the figure in correctly, then it’s quite possible to complete the highlights and shadows from memory. A few cross-figure lines to suggest the areas for the highlights, shadows, mid tones and quartertones help, but memory does serve.

Here below then are a few catches from the evening. They are all fifteen minute studies. The middle one, in particular, had its highlights and shadows completed later in the studio.