Thursday, November 19, 2009

End of Figure Drawing Class

front row l to r: Carolyn, Sandra, Eileen
back row: Suzanne, me, Kitty



30 minute pose

Sign up for a figure drawing class for an entire year? You've got to be kidding me! But, the idea of getting a year of instruction and practice in drawing the figure was appealing (kind of challenging, but still appealing).

We started in January. I missed several months because of travel. Others started out with good intentions but fell by the wayside. The top photo shows the most tenacious of the group: these are the ones who made it to the end.

Using a combination of Nicolaides' book "The Natural Way to Draw" and her experiences from figure teacher Nicolas Carone (at Cooper Union), Kitty Wallis taught us much more than how to draw the figure.

She taught us how to see the figure. To feel the weight. To sense the tension. To see the angles and curves. To draw with sensitivity. To stop feeding the ego's need for pretty pictures. And to do the hard work of rigorous practice and draw the figure.

Endings are always bittersweet. This ending is no different. I will miss the weekly meetings and Kitty's instruction and critiques of my drawing. I guess now is the time to put into practice all that I have learned and draw. Draw. Draw more.

There's a saying among artists that if you can draw the figure, you can draw anything. I am still learning, but my final drawing shows that I have come a long way.

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