Art Business

Recently I did something I haven't done in a long time- arrange to hire a model.  I have two pieces in various degrees of process, and both require some figure work.  For some of the bodies, I can use photographic sources, such as reference books or freeze frame videos, which I have done for a lot of pieces in recent years.  Sometimes I just make it up, leaning on my experience in figure drawing to come up with something reasonable.  I am a bit out of practice, thus the reason I have been attending the figure group in Ocean Grove of late, to get a bit more practice.  But some figures are harder to imagine, and some of more prominent in the overall print, and for these I prefer an actual human being to work from.   And I learned a long time ago, when you need a model, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to just hire one.  

The problem is that I no longer teach figure classes, and haven't gone to a lot of figure workshops in recent years (like the one above) so I don't know as many models as I used to.  That's the other reason I started going to the figure group in Ocean Grove.  From one of those classes, I found a model who seemed suited to what I had in mind, had the organizer of the figure group put us in touch, and I've spent much of the past week negotiating day/time/rate with her.  But it looks like we have it all worked out now.  My plan is to have her portray at least 3 of the characters I need for the two pieces I have in mind.  Probably pencil drawing right onto the wood.  She's worked at the building before, so she knows the way, and from that previous experience, I know she can handle the poses I have planned. I will have to wait until early July to get her, but I have things to work on until then. 

I still have some medical things to arrange this time of year (and some are already done) plus some other art stuff, but this is one thing I have set up.  And when she comes to Studio, I will be able to take care of those parts of the block.  Meanwhile, I'll start on those other things I still need to do next week.