Sketches from Saturday’s life drawing. Great model with long legs and wonderful poses, I only wish I was in better form. Poses from 30 seconds – 4 minutes. A3 paper.

I took it really easy today, I’ve been so busy during the last month – I really needed to take my foot off the gas pedal. So, the first thing I did today was go to the central station and sketched the travelers as they waited for trains.
In the afternoon I walked around the town and looked for scenes to photo and paint at a later date. I walked for 4 hours! It was a sunny day and I was hunting the light, looking for scenes that were perfect for watercolours. I found quite a few so I’m happy. Tomorrow I’ll paint in the studio at home, my feet are feeling tired. I have life drawing tonight so I’ll sleep well.
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I decided to try something different last Saturday, I used my old Chinese calligraphy pen, brand name “Hero” and I used watercolour pigment as a wash. I was pleased with the result although I think I will use my 2B pencil instead of the pen next time. The poses were 30 seconds, 1, 2 and 5 minutes long. Painted on cheap watercolour paper, Calson 200g A4.
Another Saturday and another burst of 1, 2, 3 and 5 minute poses. The organiser added 30 second poses to the grinding session. He thought we were having to much time with the 1 minute ones! I can see his point though, all you can do is capture the pose, nothing else when time is so short.
I’ve started a new Sketchbook. I find it very useful when I take breaks from the watercolours that I am producing for my upcoming exhibition. To be able to just relax and sketch whatever for an hour is so beneficial when one is under pressure. I now start each artist day with a watercolour sketch to get me into the groove of painting.
Format: Moleskin 29.5 x 20.5 cm
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My Saturday life drawing is like a military boot-camp, we all feel totally exhausted after two hours of 1, 2 and 3 minute poses. I wasn’t in form this day so not much to show but I learned a lot which is more important than doing a nice sketch I think.
I haven’t gone to life drawing on a Tuesday evening for quite a while. I had such a bad watercolour day at home in my studio that I felt I had to go out and cheer myself up. It worked, it felt good to sketch and forget the day that was.