Figure Drawing in October

 For a few days I have been debating whether to go to the drawing group this morning, or to proof the other two blocks for the upcoming show there in our building.  Even this morning I still wasn't sure.  But in the end I chose to do some figure drawing.  I was up in time to do so, and I knew I could print tomorrow and still have it dry in time to frame everything before the first day that they are accepting works.  (I don't know if for sure, but it makes sense to me that work submitted earlier in the week of delivery has a better chance of being hung in a more visible space on the wall) Plus, I knew I could complete a step or two of the pre-printing after I was done drawing, since I had to go down to my space anyway to return some of my materials.  I brought my small sketchbook and pencils, pencil eraser and sharpener, charcoal, and cutting tools, plus my camera to document the completed work.

Got to the room and found the room was pretty empty, only 5 artists including me, so plenty of options for seating and setting up.  New model for me.  Not particularly exciting to draw, but she did fine.  At the request of the artist who usually handles the timing we skipped the 30 second gestures and went right to the one minute gestures.  No complaint from me.  Shortly after we started, a sixth artist showed up, but this didn't affect me.  I used pencil for most of the drawings, only breaking out the charcoal and related materials for the last 34 minute drawing, our longest.  

As is typical, during breaks then model walked around to see the results to what the artists had done.  (some do this still nude, but this one dressed first)  So she saw all I had done.  She had some praise for everything, but her favorite thing, and the only thing she asked to photograph, was the final charcoal drawing, which can be seen below:

On the other hand, my favorite drawing from today's session was this 20 minute pencil drawing done just before the charcoal, and that one is seen here:

After things were done I headed downstairs to my space to document the day's work and to do a little to prepare for tomorrow's printing. I found the two blocks quickly and removed the tape from the one that had a lot of tape on it.  Then I used my cutting tools to clean up all the odd bits that required me to tape over the unwanted ink on that block.  The other block had no tape on it, but I still spent a few minutes cutting some tiny areas that had picked up ink.  Assuming I am careful with the inking, these two proofs will be the cleanest of all proofs taken of these two blocks, and should be suitable for showing. I chose not to prepare paper, as this would have required me to clear off my table, and pull out the box containing clean paper, and I didn't feel like it. That last step can wait until just before I ink the blocks.