Well i’ve started new untutored life drawing classes and it seemed to work much more intuitively… i didn’t get to see nearly anyone else’s work, they seem very shy, i have no idea if i’m terrible or average or what… but i’m pretty happy with these, i havent done a class for a month but i seem to have figured out my “tricks” that make it all easier…

you know twice in two days i havent been able to take criticism, i’ve really felt they were off the mark, even though i really want to learn. it’s like i have to press them to really say something worthy, that gets me across the line. without comparing to the other drawings, i really like this effort today, though i feel there’s not enough detail in the shoulders… oh well. atleast i’m not going backwards.

It’s been hard the last two weeks, the pastels are driving me nuts, but atleast i’m not making as much mess. I’ve been looking at other’s work and going “ooh they have such a delicate style, delicate strokes” where my images are kind of scrawled on like a 14 yr old in a strop. But i finally understand what the teacher is getting at – first you learn shape, then you learn shading, then you learn texture/technique. I’m currently in ’shading’ phase, learning where the light is, and how to mimic it on paper. it’s quite difficult for me, especially using colour. Isn’t Michel a wonderful male model though?

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theres a bit of catching up to do, these are this weeks drawings which i really struggled with and, while they’re nice, i feel they’re a step backward… this’ll teach me not to skip drawing during the week. I have noticed though i don’t struggle with shapes and perspective as much as i used to. so i guess that’s progress.

PS. anyone having problem with the nudity. i apologise.

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These were last weeks efforts, the pastel paper doesn’t feel very different but the way i work now on a larger piece of paper seems to be a wole new bal game. I love softening and blending the colours with my fingers rather than leaving them rough and nasty the way they come onto the paper. Anyway i really like the standing one but my class preferred the sitting one (??)

I felt very dark yesterday and just nothing was working for me, i was trying to push myself doing my first portrait and yet… anyway for some reason i hate this image even though i think if my mood were different yesterday i’d be fairly proud of it. such a harsh portrait of a woman who had a sweetness to her and light in her eyes.

this is my favourite life drawing from 2001 the first class i ever did. I got alot of attention for it everyone coming around the classroom to look so i get a mixed sense of pride and shame (for attention seeking). the model was a very beautiful thing with tatoos on her pubic area, i remember the high school kid being totally fascinated that she shaved her pubes, he couldn’t hold a normal conversatin the entire evening. When i went back there a few week later other students had improved well above me and i was struggling again.

It doesn’t really look like the model, but it’s really pretty, i’m getting the hang of pastels. but my eye for lines, for what i see in front of me is still really off…. I came home and kept working on it smoothing it out and making it look nice. I really do enjoy this, i hope it takes me somewhere, cos my life is otherwise not going very far.

Finally found a local life drawing class, not too expensive. I can turn up when i want, or not. This was my favourite of the week. a 2 minute observation. I’m doing it mostly for confidence on paper. But also when you look at kozyndan or the previously mentioned Platinum Grit, they can draw positions other than standing straight and staring straight at you! Move away from the Yoshitomo Nara and others of the japanese ’superflat’ childlike movement. i need to draw bodies!