Back to the Old Habits

 I was up early enough this morning that I could try again to go to the figure drawing group. Actually Joe was sitting on the steps inside as I arrived in our building, so he said he'd see me upstairs.  Well, not until I retrieve my materials from the basement, but I did that.  Took my usual space in the old 40's room, which was a bit more comfortable today.  Don't know if it was the weather or if the AC was working better this time.  About 10 people showed up for the session- not enough to take all the spaces, but enough to keep things going a while.  With Joe back, we went back to the format he liked, so lots of gestural poses, and a few longer poses.  The longer poses were about 20 minutes, which is a good time for me with figure drawing in charcoal.  Shorter ones (30 seconds to 10 minutes) I did in pencil.  The one negative was that the model was male (first time ever for this group, Joe said), which doesn't help me with my Robert Johnson project, so I spoke to our organizer later and he said he could put me in touch with the model from a few weeks ago, who back then had expressed an interest in working for me.  Still, practice is practice, and I am mostly there to work on proportions and such, so I drew for the two hours.  My best charcoal of the day can be seen below:

The other long one was a standard seated 3/4 portrait, which turned out ok.  However, the model really liked it and how I dealt with his chin, and even took a photo of it.  

Before I even left the parking lot, I got a call from my former student Mary, who has hired me to do some printing and constructing in the past.  Today was about more printing, a couple of blocks that she wants proofed in time for a show in a few months.  With Jenny's project done, I can probably do that, and told her so.  She says she can provide ink and paper, and the block has been proofed before, so there is some kind of BAT to work from.  Size is reasonable.  I'm supposed to get back to her next week and discuss the details.  (I did some for an old friend of hers back in the summer of 2021, so I can probably do these as well)  She had questions about how to credit me, and if I can be called a master printer.  Usually most people who are called 'master printers' are employed by established shops or have some kind of certification.  I'm just a guy who has been printing his own work for decades and knows a thing or two about the process.  

Meanwhile, I exchanged emails with Jenny regarding the shipping of the prints she ordered, so on my way home today I made a couple of stops at possible shipping places to see what they had and what materials would cost.  Wasn't able to find much, so I may have to try a few more places next week, the next time I expect to be out and about in my car.