Meet Jennifer

 

Cornerstone! - Pascale

I've been drawing a lot recently, and I wanted to go back to the training ground and see how I was faring compared to yesteryear. When the model stroke her first pose, a 1 minute (2nd drawing from the left), I knew it was one of those "cornerstone"moment, … and I wished Frazetta was here. He would have loved to work with her. She got a powerful, curvy and sturdy body. I drew the whole night internally monologuing with Frazetta. He was mostly making fun of my drawings, and sometime smiling with satisfaction.

I left the studio with a new thought on the art of drawing…uh-oh... that I'd like to share :)

Here is a collage of the best 5 drawings. Poses ranged from 1 min to 10min. 

Drawing a model is like… "I hear what you are saying, but let me say it louder for you."

The equivalent in a verbal conversation would be, repeating after someone, with a loud Gospel or Opera voice.

e.g

Model: Look at my hip

Artist: LOOoooOOK AT MY HIIiiiIIiiIIIiiiiiP!!!!

Cheers!

With time to kill, Gotta keep running

 

 

 

 

Session No. 5

 

 

 

With Marie

Life Drawing with Regis Loisel

So I reached Montreal and I didnt loose any time to find a life drawing to join. Lucky me, it's with no other than the great Regis Loisel. I reached the studio not really sure of what to expect, I rang at the door, no answer, I stepped in...walk up the stairs... knock at the door... still no answer, but I was hearing the muffled sound of chit chat. I was just hoping to be at the right place, and not opening the door in a random family house somewhere. I pushed the door... and phew! It was the right place. People where scattered around waiting for the model to arrive. On the walls hundreds of frames hunged everywhere. I was intimidated. The caliber of the people is really high, and for a first timer, I wanted to make a good impression. It was out of question of having a bad session. The model soon arrived and started posing. Fortunately things went well and I was happy with my output. The pressure I put on myself helped me to stay focused. Below is a selection of what I consider the best of my session. 1min to 20min. Meet Veronique!

 

San Francisco #3

Still in SF, I attended a life drawing on thursday, it was great with a costumed model.




Saturday, I walked and found myself neat Civic Center, the day was nice but super windy.
I want to add the golden details on the dome, with gouache, but don't have any at the moment.

Then I sat at Grand Cafe, on Geary, I sketched while drinking Hendrick's Gin and eating oysters.

 

Oldies

Meanwhile...

Some stuff I've been doing recently, the piece below is a piece I did helping some friends, Watercolors on 1/4 Arches paper, then inked with a japanese brush pen. The life drawing is a 20 minutes poses same size 1/4 of a full sheet. I'm quite happy how it turned out, I usually struggle a lot with althetic or skinny models. I'm starting to feel a maturity in my colors arrangment. Ahhhh.... progress at last...

Liu Shu

I had a lot of fun yesterday, I went outside of my palette, I tried a combination of Orange Iron Oxide, Nickel Azo Yellow and Indigo. I really liked to work with these pigments, the azo is very very strong, but the two others are very transparent and need a good wit to have them to punch. They are very forgiving when making unsure marks, as they lift off the paper very easily. In this particular session, I had trouble with the head, the model had quite a large head compared to her body, so i tried to compensate, but... I guess I did too much. All poses were 30minutes.

Zhu Fang Hua

Today, we had our first life drawing at the office. I had the pleasure to call on Zhu Fang Hua, an old friend I met in 2005 when she was modeling for us back then. She didnt change much, even her poses where quite the same style. I still have some of thoses drawings, it might be fun to compare a series and do some reenactment. Overall today was a very good session, and I believe one of the sketches could be another cornerstone of this journey. I'm not quite sure, because  I want to see it again tomorrow, with new eyes. But tonight I love it and I want to share it. When I saw the pose, I knew something was bound to happen, and it was up to me. The way the light was falling, and the gesture she was holding, I couldn't let it slip.

Palette is M. Graham, Cadmium yellow deep, cadmium red, ultramarine blue, and tiny touches of Alizarin. On Arches CP 140lbs, rough.

Sarah & Genevieve

I've been revisiting some of my work I did few months ago, discovering them as if they were from someone else. What was bothering back then seems to have vanished, with the memory of what I wanted them to be.  I haven't done life drawing since we landed in Shanghai. But have some opportunities ahead, I'm flying for 2 weeks in San Francisco, and I've already spotted some places I can drop in. I will try to do some landscape too.

Sarah 

Sarah

Genevieve

Once in a while

Once in a while, (for some unknown reasons, could be the alignment of the stars, or the breakfast you had 5 weeks ago),  you do a piece of work so strong to your eyes, that they become instant icons, or I should say a cornerstone of your journey. It's embedding all the qualities I've always wanted to put in a painting. It's the type of artwork that makes me jealous of other artists. I would have seen it a gallery show, and I would've said... "oh I wish I could do something as powerfully as that!" Well today, I take a rest and content myself with this piece. It's a proof of progress in this journey, and there is nothing sweeter as a feeling. Acquiring skills, this is what it is all about. Now... have to improve from this cornerstone!

 

Time Lapse Life Drawing

Meet Geoffrey

A very nice session today. I'm quite pleased with the output. But the real surprise was after the session, when models usually run away. Geoffrey sat outside with us, and dived into the pleasures of alcohol & tobacco. Drinks in hands, we talked about a myriad of things. His traveling adventures, my blog, the inability of frenchmen to fluenty speak a foreign language. Later on, a thought rose in my mind. Our next session has already started, my next drawings of him are already in progress. But from the inside out this time. Quite a character he is, poised gentleman, polyglot, ex royal navy, master diver, cigar afficionados... He could have said 007 I would have believed it, but he prefered to qualify himself as... Kong Long.

A tough but rewarding session.

So, as you may know, I've opened up my private session to friends and other artists seeking the thrill of life drawing. Yesterday, a bunch of frriends came along, with Xu Hui. I've setted up the lighting and all. Unfortunely my currents skills doenst allow me to portay the dramatic effect we had. Another attempt, not shown here for ego reasons, blatantly failed when I tried to use strong colors. I got myself a bunch of watersoluble oil tube. It's supposed to handle exactly like oil, without the hassle of oil, no smell, easy cleaning with water and soap. I'll give it a try stay tuned.

Colored Lighting #1