life drawing

Gave myself the treat of an evenings life drawing last week, my first in Derbyshire! This was the final drawing of the night, 30 minutes, charcoal. 

leytonstone life drawing

Life drawing from last night, 10, 25 and 45 minute poses from this untutored class run by Jennifer Wolf. Different model each week, materials provided and a focused atmosphere! Apologies for the average photos and nasty auto enhance - best I can do on a dull London morning.

life drawing

First time using my multi-colour pencil (yellow/red/blue) - love the effect. 20 minute pose.

life drawing

Countless hours were spent at collage honing my observation and drawing skills, but now I rarely sit and draw for the sake of drawing.

I'm aware of observing the world with a drawers eye - counting, measuring, noting the space between objects, spotting interesting colour-way, tone, texture. Learning to draw changes how you look forever: inquisitive looking, sorting the world into shapes that fit together, attempting to forget what you're looking at in order to see it clearly.

This Tuesday I tootled up Leytonstone High Road and attended a class with East London Life Drawing. The assembled group were focused and companionable, and we lost two hours in the best possible way: in the moment, solving the problem of how to depict a living form on 2D paper. For me, it all came together when I got my hands on this red crayon, a blunt, early years type crayon with both beautiful and frustrating qualities.