I have been attending a life drawing group on Saturdays with Dinah at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. www.nhia.edu. We pay a small fee and work quietly for several hours interpreting the poses in several different media. Some folks draw, some paint,some use a computer program. I have found drawing helps me both satisfy the need to draw and put together some poses I can interpret later. I was using a bamboo pen and washes until I ran out of some excellent paper I had that absorbed the wash but left enough moisture to blur ink as it was applied. I find the bambo pen is an extension of my arm and if I train my eyes
on the model, the line I put down carries the feeling of the pose.
I draw with a calligraphy pen as well. Theses drawings have been on smaller paper, 8x11. I use a delivery man's plastic clipboard with an inside compartment. In it I can carry loose paper which I find suits my style of drawing very well. I can take the paper and use it alone without having to rip apart a spiral bound notebook. The clipboard holds the paper in the wind. The compartment protects finished drawings. I use the calligraphy pen for sketching outside as well. I also carry conte crayon which I have added to some drawings. Some of these are gesture drawings are made in one minute.
Warmup work which helps one get with the feeling of the model, the underlying attitude in gesture and the way they hold their body. Some drawing I also do on large paper from Staples with a conte crayon. One o
f a model struck me for the fierce attitude she conveys, along with no modesty which I have worked into a painting of a warrior, or I think of it that way. It isn't quite ready for display.Now that I ran out of the paper, which was maybe 20x 34 and was captured from a recycling bin so not easily found again, I bought some chipboard in hopes I can use it the same way. Instead I have found that oil crayons worked well for crafting an image. It is done the same way. I use a bamboo pen, study the model while my pen/arm go over the form. I have added the crayon for highlights.
Some poses have proven to be a bit stiff for further work, but may well form some library for me of images I can use as I work on pulling images together in painting.
