take an art class

We did still life and colour again tonight and I used pastels again. My drawing turned out quite well and I have decided that I do enjoy working with pastels and want to work with them more.

We did life drawing again tonight. We had a male model this time which was good. I have never drawn a male nude before. We had to draw him lying down which was surprising harder than I thought it would be. I struggled to begin with but by the end of the class I was reasonably happy with what I had done.

Tonight we had a flamenco dancer come in. Her outfit was just gorgeous and she did some great poses too. I enjoyed this class and am now seeing improvements from earlier lessons.

Tonight our focus was architecture and we had to draw a corner of the room we were in including a couple of windows. I used Indian ink for the first time. It was ok, although a bit frustrating and slow because the tool I had to work with wasn’t the best. I would like to try inks again at some stage though.

Tonight I did my life drawing class again. We had a different model from Monday night. The class went well again although I prefer my drawing from Monday night better than last night.

I had an extra lesson last night to make up for one I missed earlier in the course. We did life drawing which is the first time I have ever done that. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to doing it again tomorrow night. The angle I had of the model was straight on and there was a lot of foreshortening to consider. I don’t think I did too bad a job actually. Now I want to get more practise drawing hands and feet as well.

Half way through my course. Today’s focus was on colour and we had a still life to draw and then the choice whether to use chalk pastels or water colour. Neither are my prefered medium but I chose chalk pastels as I really struggle with water colours! Tonight was also the first time I used a standing easel. I’m used to drawing on a table and I did this on the first lesson, then the next three lessons I used a sitting easel. Although it felt uncomfortable drawing using a standing easel, it was actually the best drawing I have done on the course so far. As I started using the pastels I wasn’t really happy with what I had done, so I decided not to follow my teachers advice (I usually do follow her advice) and developed one part of the picture (in this case, a lemon) to a finished state. And, I’m pleased to say, I did a good job of it! It was the first time I left a lesson and actually felt good about what I had done. And everyone in the class commented how good my drawing was. At last, I think my confidence is starting to grow. Lets hope I can keep it up for the rest of the lessons!

Today we focussed on portraiture. We did a few quick warm up sketches and then spent just over an hour developing one drawing further and putting in details.. I managed to get right to the end of this lesson before starting to hate what I had acheived in the lesson! I guess that’s some sort of progress!

I missed lesson three due to illness but I have arranged to make up for it by taking two classes in one week later on in the course.

Today we had a model in who was dressed in chef’s attire and stood in a few 5-10 minute poses while we sketched her. Then she sat in one long pose and we had just over an hour to draw her in more detail. My teacher gave me positive comments a few times throughout the class, although I wasn’t happy with what I had done myself. I know that I am my own worst critic though and I know it’s going to take a long time to get back to the level I was a few years ago, but I do tend to get frustrated with myself and come home from the class feeling quite low!