Life drawing and petting dogs

I thought I'd mix the drawings that I did at the North Carolina Academy of Art last Wednesday with some life updates. Thankfully, it partially involves petting dogs, so it's less stressful than it seems(well, a bit less, anyway).

"Why don't you do gesture drawings?"

One of the things I love most about figure drawing, or any drawing, in a group is that the group setting encourages everyone to interact. Ask questions. Try new techniques out. So when one of the guys came over to look at my drawings and asked that, I answered

"this is"

This, for me, is a gesture drawing. Because a gesture drawing, for me, is putting down only the very basic information(generally in a short timed pose). A gesture drawing, again for me, is all about getting across what I see in a minimal line(I'm generally using an ebony or charcoal pencil). And hurray for art tape.

As for life here in NC, I do really like it/it's a change that I needed to make/all that. But after two months I am struggling with the financial side. Knowing that it was going to take time to get situated, I thought the money that I had would get me through it. But then again, I hadn't moved in a loooonnnnggg time, and the relocation to another state added all kinds of fun surprise expenses on top of that.

In case you weren't able to tell from the first drawing, this model can hold some serious fucking poses. But for whatever reason, man, was I having a rough time getting the drawings right. Or even not entirely awful. This was my third attempt during the long pose, and ended up being another "gesture" drawing. Which is just fine with me. And again, hurray for art tape.

Didn't I say something about dogs? Yes yes. One of my new friends here had asked how things were going for me after a class, and I gave her a quick overview. So she said, "well, I'll be away for a couple of days so you're in charge of my dogs. You like dogs?" Yes, yes I do.

Remember my saying something about a frustration with the longer pose? Well, this started off as a super weak tea line drawing. Great news, I brought a tooth brush and some Sumi ink! I like using this for when I'm feeling a little too tight in my drawing, and it helps to loosen things up for me. And it's a fun way to move ink around a drawing. Clearly, this will lead to a more abstract look. But I'm finding that, between this and the collage, I'm getting some really good drawings out of the night. Some art tape and dribbled white paint help me control the form, and this is now up on my wall. It's these longer drawing where I experiment a little more is when I get some questions from the other artists.

Because of the couple of dog sitting jobs(which, let's be honest, are greatly appreciated pity jobs) I was able to do something very important.

Get out of my apartment and do something.

A lot of times, when I feel that the life stress is getting out of hand, I shut out everything. I feel like I need to work harder and not do anything else until it's figured out. So going to someone's house and getting a couple of bucks to pet and talk to the two dogs(Patsy and Kathy) has helped a lot. It also helps that they are both good listeners. Particularly during belly rub time.