Life Studies, February 24

Michael Whynot. Figure Study, 2013. Red chalk.

Michael Whynot. Foot Study, 2013. Red chalk.

These are a couple of studies done at yesterday's life drawing session. The models were a pair of circus performers; male and female. The poses were dynamic but short. I found them very challenging, both in terms of capturing the gestures and in discerning correct proportions on two figures at once.

Someone suggested that, perhaps, there was an element of performance anxiety to our difficulties. The pressure to record so much information so quickly is always present, but seemed to be twice as intense with twice the amount of usual information. Pushing beyond normal comfort levels, though, is how we improve and grow. I'll be anxious to attempt drawing them again.

Head Study.

Michael Whynot. Head Study, 2013. Red chalk.

I'm posting a head study done this morning from reference. I plan to get back to some life drawing this weekend if it will only stop snowing. The light is grey and cold. What little warmth to be found is hiding amid the shadows. One need look closely to see it, but it is there; it gives me a small measure of hope.

Ballet of an Idle Mind.

Michael Whynot. Ballet of an Idle Mind, 2013. Red chalk.

I spent the morning staring out of my kitchen window at the snow drifting, three feet deep, in the field. It is difficult to remember summer in the depths of February - warm sunshine on the front steps, a cool breeze stirring the leaves down the long, bright evenings. I never appreciate things until they are gone.

I haven't drawn from a live model now for two weeks. Not a long time, maybe, but I worry if I haven't, perhaps, forgotten the intricate arrangement of the human form, as well. So I visualized a pose and spent an hour drawing from my imagination.

The physical act of drawing is a motor skill - not that different from driving a car or swinging a golf club. The art in drawing comes from being able to visualize a form, whether that form is ten feet in front of you or floating around inside your head. And this, like everything we strive to do well, takes practice. Drawing will never be easy, but experience tells me that it will get easier.