Open Life Sessions

When I get a chance I try to attend open life sessions on Thursday evenings at the local Art Institute in Roslyn. These are great opportunities to just draw the human form. I love the fun atmosphere, interacting with other DC artists and the students of the Art Insititute. It is great fun trying new drawing techniques out, improving on new methods I have read about and seeing how others also draw.

These sketches are the short gesture poses, and are completed with a compressed charcoal sharpened to a point. I like using straight hatch marks to create form, instead of using curved lines. I have started to experiment with the curved lines but I always gravitate towards the more straight lines if I am not actively thinking about technique. I think it is my architectural drafting experience influencing me...

These exercises are good practice to learning how to control light and shadow as you want, because the lighting in the room is okay, but not very directional. So instead I typically have to decide in my mind which direction the light is coming from and draw it as accurately as I can imagine it. Sometimes it is easier than other times...