Figure Drawing Class

Male Landscape Male Nude TwoFigure Drawing Class

Joining a Figure Drawing Group in Poulsbo at Artist’s Edge has bee fun to add on Thursday nights. Having not done much figure drawing in the last few years, this is challenging as well as worthwhile.

It reminded me when we had our first male model of my first day in Life Drawing my freshman year of art school. I was barely seventeen, raised on a small farm in Northern California and I had never seen a naked man. I sincerely did not know “where” to look, let alone draw.

What can I say, that was a long time ago.

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Drawing Class

Second Drawing in classFinal drawing of ModelDrawing Class

Every artist should take a drawing class to hone their skills. Drawing. Drawing. Drawing. Every art teacher tell you that you have to draw before you can paint or watercolor. You have to get the drawing right.

This weekend I took a wonderful class on portraiture with Dan Riley and Joe MacKenchie, both respected Seattle artists.

Two teachers and five dedicated artists! It was great fun, exhausting and the perfect way to spend a rainy weekend.

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Last pose of the Evening

Last pose of the Evening

Just this last week I started taking a figure drawing class after not doing much in charcoal for a while. The model struck this pose and I thought “how do I do this?”

I like the result. It is only 8 x 8 inches, so not big, but I had fun trying to bring some drama into the pose. Hope I can be posting more in the future.

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Old House near San Francisco

Old White HouseThis a painting from a photo my Daughter-in-law took when she and my older sons went on a hike outside San Francisco. I loved the forlorn look of this old world house and wanted to make it sad, but with hope of a future.

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Nap Time

Nap Time

Line work can make or break a drawing. We all need to draw more. I have heard and read more artists say your painting is only as good as your drawing. I try to draw something every day, so my line work hopefully improves over time.

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