life drawing/painting session: week #2

i went to the vitamin studio for the second time wednesday evening for another session with a live model. the experience is great as are the other artists who work in a number of different media. its always fun to see what someone else does with the same pose. here are my offerings for the week. they were 20-, 30-, 45-minutes poses. i am getting more comfortable with the drawing part and the time management part, but i am still a little sloppy with the paint, a little too dark with the paint, and too red in the flesh tones. also, i think i am trying to put too much detail in the figures. i could understate them and describe some of the contour with negative shapes in the background. "less is more." now where have i heard that before? so here we go:

30-minute (left) and 45-minute poses (18"X15")

20-minute pose (11"X14") 

as you can see i tried to make a composition out of the two longer poses. i think the positions of each of the poses on the paper is okay but i screwed up on the first one by putting in too much background. this left me with trying to over paint a greenish color (that wouldn't lift...believe me i tried) with the flesh color and this created a rather ugly reddish brown. i will have to remember this next week to put down only small swatches outside the figures and lose the outside edge so that i have plenty of room to place the second figure and blend any other negative shapes into the previously applied ones. last comment, the 45-minute pose was a bear to draw with the extreme foreshortening going on from the position from which i was working. by the time i was satisfied (well, as much as i could be) it only left about 18 minutes for the painting...i think i shows...and the drawing isn't so hot either. interestingly enough i think i prefer the 20-minute pose over the other two. it seems fresher and the head is better painted. but it all was a fun, instructive, and useful experience. there is a 3-hour pose session on the first and third thursday evenings of the month usually with a clothed model that i am looking forward to in two weeks. 'til next time.