The other weeks, we're tucked upstairs in the museum—a band of regulars and newcomers. Some music and happy banter, yes, but our focus is on the model.
The third week of the month is different—we meet at the Ale House. We're out in the open. Our model is clothed. Libations and loud chatter surround us as we draw. This night, it's as much about the jovial communing as the drawing. Discreet doesn't cut it here.
"Come for a drink and stay to draw!" the advert reads — and people do. It's a kick.*
Before leaving home for the Ale House, I swiped color onto a few pages in the small 7 x 10 Fabriano sketchbook. The colors for last week's "Meet Me in the Sky" drawings were still on my table — so I pressed them into service again. I'll draw on top of these.
Along with the pan pastels, I packed a red and blue colored pencil for darker values and contrast, a compressed charcoal stick, and a couple of erasers. Limited palette and tools. The paper in the sketchbook is suitable for mixed media (wet and dry). It has a bit of tooth, which will give some texture.
At the Alehouse, I found a seat up front. Our first pose was fifteen minutes. No rapid-fire gesture drawings to warm up tonight — straight to it. A bit surprisingly, my first drawing turned out OK.
The second one (a twenty-minute pose) — not so much.
I chose compressed charcoal for the third pose and worked quickly, completing two drawings with a single twenty-minute pose. Not great — but a palette cleanser.
We had thirty minutes for the last pose. I returned to the colored pencils—this time, red.
I'm used to these sessions by now. A lousy drawing or two doesn't rattle me. It's real-time feedback, and anyway, the bad drawings are opportunities to explore further back home. Zero pressure.
But of course, I care about how the drawings turn out. When I've had a good night, I'm all hopped up. I spread my pages on the dining room table. I pull out the interesting ones. I ask my husband what he thinks. Can't help but smile as I turn off the light over the table full of drawings.
A closer look:
One thing that consistently contributes to happy outcomes is pre-preparing the pages.
As long as there's an area of white, I have something to work against, and it's easier to locate the figure in space.
Best of all, though, the results are unexpected —where a color or light falls on the figure, for example.
Throwing some color on the page also forces me to try things, to see how color might enhance a drawing.
The next morning, I noticed the red model's hair was at an odd angle. Shouldn't that strand of hair be falling straight down? Crop and straighten, then.
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