WCC Figure Drawing - 04/19/13 - Katie

I took Friday off and was able to go to WCC's figure drawing class. The model was Katie.

I opened a new pack of oil pastels this morning and used the entire stick of Burnt Sienna in this session.  So you may notice a color trend. Sometimes the color just takes over.

Above is my favorite of the morning. It is over an old sheet, that was honestly getting rather worn from reuse. With my latest attempt, the page is looking pretty great now. There is vibrant movement on the page, despite the rather simple pose. I think I have created a rather dynamic page.

The central figure is both unstable and monolithic. It stands as such a contrast from both the green wash and the black turpentine cloud of previous drawings, while being made up of a chaotic mess of frantic marks. The spontaneity created by the way I applied the oil pastel is really captivating to me.

It's almost as if from the chaotic mess this very powerful figure appeared.

"I believe in deeply ordered chaos." 

~ Francis Bacon

This is the second pose of the morning. I am on the fence about this drawing. I keep looking at it and seeing minor flaws that are distracting my attention. However, when I look at the piece overall, it actually looks pretty good. I will probably add another pose to this page.

It was a surprisingly difficult pose because of the foreshortened legs. I do really like how I rendered the hands, particularly the one on the left.    

This is the third pose of the morning and I drew it over another pose of Kat. I am starting to really like this page. I like the repeated shapes the fingers are making in that row. I do not think the pose is completed, however. I think there needs to be another pose on the right side of the page. It may be as simple as drawing another hand in the top right corner. I have to think more what to do on this page. 

This was the last pose of the morning. I do like some elements of this drawing. Although it looks a little off to me. Maybe I should sleep on it before doing anything rash and turpentine-y

This figure drawing class is held on Fridays at Windward Community College's Hale Palanikila at 9:30 AM. There is a $5 class fee.

"Art is the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos." 

~ Saul Bellow