Friday, February 28, 2014

Never Stop Learning

I'm always searching through books or internet articles for insight on improving my drawing skills. I've tried hard to find that "magic pill", the "quick fix" and the best advice I've found to date is ... "Go draw something. Repeat."

Sometimes drawing can feel so effortless and then there are times when I erase more lines than I draw. I know that I'm not alone judging by the groans I hear around me. Drawing never gets old, I'm never too tired for it, I never, ever don't want to draw - no matter the outcome - I learn something about myself or drawing every week.

"A good drawing says: "not so fast, buster". We have had a gutfull of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn't merely sensational, that doesn't get its message across in 10 seconds, that isn't falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures. In a word, art is the very opposite of mass media. For no spiritually authentic art can beat mass media at their own game. But drawing never dies, it holds on by the skin of its teeth, because the hunger it satisfies - the desire for an active, investigative, manually vivid relation with the things we see and yearn to know about - is apparently immortal. 

- Robert Hughes


Our thanks to Sarah for perfect poses every time!

Janet will pose on March 3rd
Chris will pose on March 10th
Emily will pose on March 17th
Breanne will pose on March 24th
K.C. will pose on March 31st


Chris Irby
Chris Irby
Ed King
Ed King
Ed King 
Ronald Jackson
Ronald Jackson
Ronald Jackson
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Susan Ishii 
Susan Ishii 
Susan Ishii
 artists maintain the copyright to all images posted

Friday, February 21, 2014

Reality Doesn't Bite

I know I've gone on and on so many times about the benefits of drawing from life rather than photographs - and I'm obviously not done yet.

Life drawing offers exactly what it proclaims. It forces you to think in three dimensions and challenges you in a way that copying from a photograph can't. Bony landmarks and muscle detail are missing in many photographs but most importantly, so is an "attitude" - a slouch, a lean, where the weight is placed and the ability to walk around the model and observe, observe, observe. In working from a photograph, distortion from a camera lens, a predetermined composition and heavy retouching are always part of the real picture. 

Come draw from Life, every Monday night from 7:30-10:00 pm at Dragonfly Yoga Studio.
Sarah will be posing for us on Monday, Feb. 24th.

Anita Holle
Anita Holle
Bruce Day
Ed King 
Ed King
Ed King
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Sally Rhone-Kubarek
Susan Ishii
Susan Ishii
Susan Ishii

artists maintain the copyright to all images posted

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Pose Perfection

Having hired a lot of models (once a week for almost 4 years now) I often think about and so respect the job of the artist's model. I am very, very lucky to have some great models, not just good - great.

What makes one model better than another? A good model has the  ability to hold a pose and be motionless for 20-30 minutes, despite being cold or hot or cramped. A great model has a confidence and indifference that makes them able to drop their robe in a room full of clothed artists.

I make an honest effort never to rush a model into a pose. I try to give him or her time. They let me know when to start the clock. The best pose is fluid, relaxed, natural and has an implicit ease. One art instructor I read about, before starting to paint, would give a 30 minute lecture on portrait painting. By the end of his lecture, the model had gotten comfortable and he would then start painting, not altering the model's position at all - she was sitting naturally in a way that was characteristic to her.

Our thanks to Janet - one of the GREATS!

join us on Monday, Feb. 17th at Dragonfly Yoga Studio, 810 Caroline Street. Arrive around 7:30, session will start at 7:45.


Ed King
Ed King
Ed King
Chris Irby 
Sally Rhone-Kubarek 
Sally Rhone-Kubarek

Stacey Shultze
Stacey Shultze
Stacey Shultze
Susan Ishii
Susan Ishii
Susan Ohle
Susan Ohle

artists maintain the copyright to all images posted

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A Good Read

I just got my copy of Drawing magazine's "Portrait Issue". There were two articles that really interested me. 

The first was "Constructing and Modeling a Foreshortened Figure", a pose I'm determined to conquer and the second was "Setting Up for Silverpoint". It's a medium I've been wanting to try ever since I saw Bruce Day's beautiful silverpoint drawings at his studio show a few years ago. My surface preparation, so important in silverpoint, was overworked and over-prepped, so I was happy to see the article. It talked about one of the first (15th century) "how to" books for artists that directed that chicken bones be collected (fetched from under the table), be burned and then the white ash mixed with saliva or better yet - urine. Well, I felt much better about my prep of Golden's Silverpoint/Drawing Ground. So I've got my surface prepared (not as worried over this time) and am ready to get started - again.

Our thanks to K.C. for her graceful poses.

Janet will be posing for us on Feb. 10th.

Dragonfly Yoga is extending their class to run until 7:30, so we'll start the session around 7:45. I'm sorry for the inconvenience - we'll just have to see how it goes.