The model was a bit late tonight so we drew a ball on a stool for a while, working with value and trying to make it look as if it turned in space. Emily is one of the best models that I have had the pleasure to draw. Seems like whatever pose she takes I can’t help be be interested or find something exciting about it. We started the class as normal with a bunch of short term poses then ended the class with a 1 hour pose.
I was in a rare mood with my drawings tonight. I was tired but just tired enough to blot out any distractions, including my own random thoughts, and focus completely on the line. I really took my time trying to get the contour of Emily perfect with one go. I was surprised of how well I did. Most of these drawing are only two minutes long and I was able to capture most of her contour with great accuracy. I really felt confident in my ability while doing these.
The last hour I painted Emily. I had set myself so that I was looking directly at the shadow side of here and also directly into the lights. The light distorted all the values and colors on her and I had to use my hand to shield the light many times to get some accuracy in drawing, value and color. I also didn’t have a light on my canvas so I was working in a fairly dark space. So basically I had some challenges against me. But, I was able to see her outline well and get the drawing down. Then I just focused on value and trying to get it correct above anything else. I wanted to get the color somewhat correct so I just took note of its basic temperature as it related to the background or its adjacent color and made adjustments without much fuss.
I was kinda amazed at the end when I turned on the lights and looked at my painting in better light, it really turned out much better than I thought. I think Emily is good luck or something, every time we have her as a model I pull out something good.
