Hertford

 Charcoal, 1 hr

 

Oil, 2hrs

 

Had a brilliant day with a new model, Amanda, who was young and buzzing with energy and quite delightful!

 

We had two 15min and half a dozen 30sec warm ups, which are a total disgrace and not for public scrutiny. I was happy enough with these two pieces, although, do you notice that I have concentrated on the head again? And she had a stunning figure....didn't we all at her age?

Sing and Dance 16" x 20" Oil WIP

I am so excited! I have found a kindred spirit here in Norfolk. I had given up with the life drawing and turned my hand to still life, coastal scenes and folk with clothes on, as there seemed to be a bit of a nudge-nudge, wink-wink attitude to nudity.

I was browsing the King's Lynn Arts Centre and was delighted to see an upcoming exhibition in November, celebrating the human form. Further investigation revealed a blog, Two Naked, charting progress leading up to the exhibition. Long story short, I left a comment and am now in contact with Peter Kavanagh, who has obligingly suggested that we meet up and compare notes.

Peter teaches and I was cheeky and asked his opinion of my work.

'I'm very impressed with the energy and freedom in your painting. There's an honesty in your work that's still struggling to get out and sing and dance! I hope you don't mind but I'm going to risk a suggestion for you... I think you work too much from photographs... I do like your work and can see you have bags of talent, which I think will respond even better to real life observation.'

I do agree about working too much from photos, it is very stifling. So now we come to this painting. Although I plan to get to HAS on Saturday, I couldn't wait, so took off my clothes and got stuck in! It was cold! It was difficult with the curtains shut! And vanity wanted me to shave off a few inches here and there! Oh but I did enjoy it, so I will very likely finish it!

'

 

Hertford Art Society Life Drawing

I am astonished, again, at how little I have to show for working very hard all day! I know I felt absolutely exhausted when I got home.

Nevertheless, I had a terrific day and enjoyed it thoroughly. There are a couple of differences to usual. The quick warm-up sketches I did with pen, instead of charcoal, because I would spend time erasing, and wanted to eliminate that. I feel happy with the sketches so will do that again.

The first oil was an idea blatantly stolen from fellow HAS lifer, June, who had zoomed in on the transition from one body to the other, for the sketches. I was impressed, so I did that too and I like the resulting painting. Thanks June, for that, and for tracking down my missing easel, returning it and furnishing it with my name!

Good news is that there will be an all day life drawing session on 12th March close to where I live. How can I not go, so watch this space for extra helpings!