Last of Christmas; First of Life Drawing Class

Clearing up some last Christmas photos...here is Max silhouetted against his first snow.


He loved the snow and wanted to play in it every minute! And he sleeps so well after playing outside!
















Another view of Christmas.

I'll bet my neighbors will be glad when Steve takes this mess down!
He promised he will on Thursday, when we'll have warmer temps.

















This is a snowy night view of the
Louisville Water Tower
on the Ohio River.
This is the setting for my life drawing classes. (Inside, thankfully!)












There must be fifteen to twenty students in my class.
Most of them are MUCH better than me. There are many professional artists in the group, many with MFAs, and a few who are just trying to get better at what they love to do.











Yikes! I have a LOT to learn. Fellow students a) had fantastic work, and b) were very encouraging. Proportion and learning to draw what I really see instead of what I think I see are the main issues here. These were very quick drawings (but that doesn't excuse my giving the poor girl a pinhead.) We began with 20 second gestural drawings...yes - 20 seconds! I was terrible at those. We progressed to 5 minutes. I think these may be in that range.













Just when I thought I had learned
something
...I opened up this snapshot of my final project
from last night and the first thing I see is how tiny I've made her foot.
I had a hard time drawing this petite woman. She was an excellent model, but drawing from life was a brand new experience for me. I am learning to see. She held this last pose of the night for a full thirty minutes.













Speaking of nudity - what? Here is a naked tree on my path to work this morning, its bare branches raised up to the blue sky. I don't think I could draw this guy very well either.