Figure Drawing Outside

Today we had a fundraiser for the South Whidbey Island Figure Drawing Group by getting a bunch of artists together to draw and paint from the figure outdoors in the landscape. I’ve never done figure drawing outside before but I had a ton of fun today and many of the other artists expressed a want to do it again soon.

Originally I brought some gouache with me to actually paint a live figure in gouache but I was in charge of the models so right away I noticed that I wouldn’t have enough focused time to use gouache. I wasn’t disappointed at all though, I also brought my charcoal supplies and any day drawing from a live model is a good day.

Figure Drawing Outside
Figure Drawing Outside
Figure Drawing Outside, warmup
warmup

I was a bit un-focused today with running the show as you can see from my warmup. I was also giving some pointers to a really nice lady named Wendy. She is just starting to draw and I hoped I helped.

Figure Drawing Outside, model jeremy
Model Jeremy

The models were posed in contemporary clothes. We had a short discussion about settings like this and the tendency for artists to paint figure is clothes from the 19th century. I for one, want to see contemporary clothes on my models, I want to draw and paint our time, not Sargent’s. Besides we need to remember that Sargent painted contemporary models also.

Figure Drawing Outside, model Jeremy second
Model Jeremy, second angle

I was calling this the “GQ” pose for Jeremy. He looked great in the yard.

Figure Drawing Outside, olivia and mary
Olivia and Mary 1

Everyone loved the setup for the girls Olivia and Mary. They were in simple reclining poses next to a tree.

Figure Drawing Outside, Olivia 1
Olivia 1
Figure Drawing Outside, Olivia 2
Olivia 2

Session Details