So, figure studies is the big theme lately. It scares the shit out of me: I’ve never done it before (I didn’t go to an artsy high school) and I am intimidated by everything I can’t simply attach bunny slippers to and call it done. I find the days spent drawing with a model very exhausting, but also, of course, rewarding.

I have to say though, I feel much more confident doing the 1-2 minute pose croquis sketches, than the extended figure drawings. I don’t really like standing around in a classroom, slabbing around paint and charcoal and having no clue what I’m doing. Then again, we’re all amateurs, and my stuff doesn’t actually look that much worse than everyone else’s: Today, to my utter surprise, I was told that my paint strokes are good and I should do it more.

(In case you didn’t catch the surprise: I do not paint. Paintbrushes are alien things to me, most of the time.)

Here’s a couple of my quick sketches – the only one that would nearly fit in the scanner:

Oops – it’s been a while since my last post. The end of the past year turned out a bit hectic (or at least too hectic for people with my lack of attention span). The new year has started, and this week my class has been vaguely eyeing dry media – we’ve spent about one day toying with different things (which in my opinion is too little – I want detail tutorials!) – and, while I haven’t created masterpieces, I’ve got a good idea of things I really want to investigate further in my own time.

Oil pastels are a ton of fun! Impossible to control and all kindergarden-like. And sgrafitto is the most fun ever. Now I must add a decent set of OPs to my shopping list (which is growing, growing) – and play more with sgrafitto, with more tools – I’m feeling the draw of the old toothbrush.

This is a page from my small cardboard-ish sketchbook, a tentative technique test the first time I’ve touched oil pastels since – exactly – kindergarden. That messy swab of green in the background is an attack on the pastel with a bit of cotton dipped in white spirit – impossible to control, and added a bit of dubious scent to my already pastel-stained clothes from the day before.