New Face in Belmar

We've had some good models at the figure drawing group in Belmar over the past couple of years. Mostly I go just to keep my skills sharp, which has been helpful because figures are a significant part of many of the boardwalk prints. On a few occasions I have hired some of the same models myself to pose as characters in my boardwalk scenes, and for my in-progress smoking image. I don't anticipate bringing any models to the Studio in the near future, but I can still use the practice. Tonight we had a new model (new for me anyway, she may have worked one of the recent weeks I missed) and sometimes that can be difficult- new features and proportions to adjust to. However, things seem to have worked out tonight, as we drew from two 60 minute poses. No great works of art here, but both are better than anything else I've done at these sessions the past few months.

The model was impressed with the drawings, at least with the style and use of the medium. A relative beginner as an artist herself, she specifically expressed a desire to learn how to work with charcoal in a similar way- bold and a bit messy. I wouldn't necessarily advise anyone to do exactly what I am doing here (since I am breaking a few of the rules that I teach in my drawing classes), but I do push my students to go beyond what they know and are comfortable with. So I told her to get some charcoal and have some fun. I also told her that I've been doing this for about 25 years, so not to be too surprised if she doesn't get the desired results right away.