summer is almost over

Sad, but yes, true. I have enjoyed this summer perhaps more than any in my life so far. And that is a good thing to reflect about. This painting, 30'by40' acrylic on canvas, framed is for sale.

new personal photo

Yep, that's me, from two weeks ago. No explanation necessary for the location or identity of the lady in the painting behind the glass in the museum.
How did I get to be alone in a photo without the usual crowd at the most popular spot in the Louvre?

That is the really interesting question, involving purchasing tickets a day ahead and getting up early enough to take a carefully planned metro route in order to be first in line when the place opened and then walking really, really fast trying not to be distracted by a Botticelli here and Raphael there just be alone in the room with the Mona Lisa. And the Real thing, by Leonardo himself, is actually very small. And there are many amazing other works in the same room that most tourists aren't paying attention to.
My husband who is quite usefully tall took the photo over the heads of a big group of tourists who got there just as we did.

summer is too short

summertime

mixed media

where I am today

painting!

drawing

head drawing class again

I went to another session this week. It is hard to get back into the discipline if you have been out of it. It is like my exercise routine of running 3 or 4 miles, I never want to stop because I don't want to have to start up again-it is just too hard. These drawing sessions are hard, intense, and exhausting. And I love it.
Here, I used watercolor pencils for a 20 minute pose.

An interesting drawing quote

"Any object can be drawn, although those which have been formed by nature or affected by long use will offer the greatest amount of variation, as a flower, a stone, a piece of fruit, or an old shoe."

Kimon Nicolaides "The Natural Way to Draw"

My closest, most frequently used model, my own hand, drawn in my sketchbook.

drawing class

I haven't posted in a month. Yikes.
And I haven't been drawing a lot, not as much as I should.
Excuses like the wedding and re-arranging my studio don't hold up to my insistence that any drawing student must practice constantly.

I went to an open drawing session with a head model this  week. Just to get in some practice. Actually, I drew her entire figure, but here is my result from the head pose.

And here is the warm-up sketch that I did first. I was also using the session to teach a young art student how to begin a pose, with axis lines, relative measurements and blocking in.