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.
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.
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.
I was calling this the “GQ” pose for Jeremy. He looked great in the yard.
Everyone loved the setup for the girls Olivia and Mary. They were in simple reclining poses next to a tree.
Part of me is wondering if you would consider having the models pose nude for the figure drawing session, even if outside, and another part of me is grateful you didn’t, at least for the models’ sake.
Random thoughts by Pattie Beaven. You’re welcome!
With all the bugs and flies, if they were nude it would have been awful for them.