Full Monty Life Drawing

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Since I have been back in central Texas, I have been trying to attend at least one of the many life drawing sessions in Austin. The Austin Full Monty session is held each Sunday evening, hosted by artist Leslie Pierce and sponsored by AVAA (Austin Visual Arts Association). As you can probably guess, Leslie hires only male models.

Earlier in the day, there is a session that previously offered life drawing with alternating male and female models, but for the last several years, those hosts have drifted towards only the female model. So, as it turns out, if I can tear myself away from my studio on Sundays, I can be sure to draw a model from each sex.

The Austin Full Monty starts off with about ten 1-minute gesture poses. These brief, usually more dynamic poses help the artist to loosen up and shift the mind to the spatially thinking right side of the brain. They also give us artists the opportunity to try to record action. Instead of focusing on detail, we try to capture the essence of a gesture.

The following are not the best images I have ever taken of my art and I tried to increase the contrast to help you see the pencil or charcoal marks on the paper.


Sometimes I see a gesture that I would like to turn into a more formal work of art. One of my better known works is “Ten”. This bronze bas-relief sculpture was inspired by a one-minute gesture sketch that I had done eight years before and just could not forget. Click on the sculpture’s name if you would like to see this sketch.

After the quick gestures, we move into several 15-minute poses and then try for two 30-minute poses.


Sometimes I try to create a perfect gesture with flow lines and an energy that moves me. Other times I simply focus on one body part, such as the foot. In the last image of the torso with the stretched out arms, I was most attracted to the triangles and the light and dark shapes within.

Even if I never use these images to create a painting or sculpture, I still could not imagine NOT drawing from life.

Check out the Austin Full Monty Life Drawing Sessions.

White Pencil Drawing of Nude Male Figure Florence Italy

Cari Amici,

Not too long ago, I hired one of the many charming Italian models here in Florence to pose for other artists and me for a two-hour sketch (including breaks). Since sculpting the bronze “I am You”, I became even more interested in how different individuals or specifically even men and women carry themselves.

So, on this evening, I asked Mauro to try to imitate the pose that you saw in the charcoal drawing of Ilaria that I posted yesterday. He really could not get into the pose, which I found interesting. But he did an acceptable job of holding the gesture that he did give us.

Here you see my work of a white pastel pencil on black paper. I am really enjoying this idea of light from darkness. I hope you do as well.
His price is 125 USD, plus $20 for shipping and handling. Contact me if you are interested in “Mauro in Light.”
Thank you for reading.

Kelly

Drawing and Gesture Sketch

During the mornings of this past week I have spent my time creating drawing studies of an Italian model named Francesco. I will begin on Monday to create a 5-week charcoal drawing of him. It seems almost backwards to spend a couple of hours perfecting a gesture sketch, which by its nature implies speed. However, if the idea or emotion is not captured early on in an artwork, there is really no point in continuing. How one begins sets the tone for the rest of the project.

Here you can see some of my gesture sketches. I went into Photoshop to increase the contrast a bit so that you may see my light, sketchy lines better. It is meglio to draw light lines in the beginning so that one feels free to change the disegno. This is the time to make the major design decisions. Shapes, patterns, angles, variety, gesture: I must use these elements to create un disegno that conveys an idea worth viewing.



The image of the figure in the dark box shape is actually an exercise in drawing the negative spaces, the shapes around the object depicted [which is considered the positive space]. I first created a simple gesture sketch to help me place each negative shape in context with the next so that as I worked, the figure emerged. Then I draw each shape that is not the figure, shading it in order to see it better.

It is in the refinement in the drawing of the negative spaces that the articulation of the figure is created or added. My beginning sketch of the figure consisted only of “C” and “S” curves. No articulation (breaking down the specific components of a form within the gesture, as well as the addition of architecture).

Before creating the drawing you see here, I randomly drew various negative shapes from several poses, without relating them to one another. The exercise was not to draw the legs, but to draw the shape between the legs – a personality all to itself! The main observation is that all relationships give us information about our subject’s character and we must not forget to note the less obvious around us.

Click here for more Information about drawing with Romance and Architecture)

New Pencil Drawings Done In Italy

I have three new figure sketches that I did in Italia recently. I am embarrassed that in my haste, I was only able to tape them up on the wall of my new apartment and take poor quality photographs. I will take new images of them when I return to Italia. However, I hope that you can see some of my latest endeavors to capture the human gesture. “Mauro” was sketched for my Naked Gondolier series on 21 November. “Sara” and “Chiara” were sketched in different model sessions, both on 28 November. These are short poses (2 hours or less). If memory serves, these are anywhere from 10 inches to around 14 inches tall.

While I sometimes can get further along in two hours in paint, not often. And I am really trying to refine my designo of the gesture. So, it is better for me to slow down, observe, and think. I hope you can see these and that they appeal to you. I do feel that my skills in 2-dimensional figure drawing are improving dramatically, even if to some people these differences seem subtle.