Head Drawing - Give it 5 years

It is weird when you go to draw.  You never know how you are going to do.  When I walk into the Bikram studio I am not sure if I am going to have a day when I am flexible and feel light or I am going to be unflexible and heavy with out any balance.  When I go to draw sometimes I am tired and distracted and I go still crank out a good drawing or I can be full of life and rested (like last night) and not hit my best.

Here is my latest picture of Kwante.  I think I was a little heavy handed with it.  It doesn't have the ethereal quality of some of my other drawings.  Rick worked with me on nose and mouth.  He didn't have any criticism about the shape of the eyes so hopefully my work with Vanderpoehl is helping me with that.  I noticed the guy drawing next to me had a less rigid drawing.  But one woman in the class came up and said I had a dead on likeness that made me feel good.

What  I did notice yesterday is that I am comfortable with the charcoal pencil in my hand.  For so many years I felt awkward holding that damned pencil.  Now I am ok with it.  I guess it is like Ted said to me yesterday at Bikram Studio City when I complained about my shoulder hurting during the poses and my knees (I didn't even talk to him about how my feet don't feel good at all) anyway he said if you practice 5 years your body will change.  I was thinking how I did practice 5 years and my body did change and I stopped and now how I have to do those five years all over again.  First that made me sad and now I realize what's 5 years of yoga - I was going to do that anyway.

It has taken me about 4 years to get comfortable with the charcoal pencil.  Maybe I will feel even better after five.

Some Work March and April

These are some images I have drawn the last 2 months. I have had a hard time keeping up on my blog this spring.  I have been working way too much and have been generally unhappy. I think this is the first time in a long time that I have been so bad at keeping up my blog.  I hope I can get back on track.

I did this sketch last night in Rick Morris's Class at 3Kicks it is the last semester he is teaching.

 Did this last Thursday in Rick's Class. Left early and started a little later due to Rick's demo (which was great).

 I did this some time last month of Kwante in Rick's class.  Rick criticized me for making Kwante too juvenile.

 I don't remember much about this pose.  It is reading like a little bit of a mess.  I am not happy with it.

 I did this in Howard's workshop after not having drawn for a couple of weeks.  It is the drawing that convinced me I need to keep studying with Rick.

 I did this in the last class I went to the last semester of 3 Kicks so some time at the end of March.  This is one of my favorite drawings. She kept looking at me the week I decided to retake Rick's class. She reminded me how much I have grown under Rick's tutelage and that I needed to take advantage of him being around.

 I remember Rick criticizing this drawing for problems in the point of view and placement of features on the face.

 Tim likes this drawing a lot.  I did it of Maude at Howard's workshop. I think the features may be too close together and perhaps the head is too narrow.

Some January - February work

I have been in a sort of malaise about posting on my blog. I have also been in a drawing funk. I just don't seem to be excited about anything right now. I think I am burned out from all my Set Dec jobs.

I did this a couple weeks ago outside at Howard Marchese's uninstructed workshop. Howard said it was my best piece. I really didn't feel one way or another about it.

I did this at Richard Morris's Class. I liked it. I kept thinking that the model looked like some Jacobean out of Tale of Two Cities. I think I remember something about the name Jaques in the novel. Anyway when I can come up with a story I seem to draw better pieces. Richard thought that the composition was really good which I thought was a great compliment. I wish I could study with him at his studio.

This was another sitting of that Virgin Mary pose at Howard's workshop. I think my first version was better. But as always I am having problems with that hand. It feels so awkward and out of scale. I should have left it out.

This is a picture of Andy at Howard's workshop. I need to address more the separation of the beard from the neck.

Head Drawing - Recent Work

Started a new class at 3 Kicks Studio on Head Drawing with Richard Morris. This is from week one

This is Richard Morris's correction on my drawing.

This is from class number 2. A drawing of Jay Jay.

I did this at Howard Marchese's uninstructed workshop. It came out pretty well. Tim asked me if I had help.