Drawing For Life - 3

Life drawing evenings continue (despite the dense London heat we have at the moment) at Betty Frankenstien's Drawing Room in Crystal Palace. I found an old pad of coloured, slightly textured paper that I think used to be my mum's (!) It even has the price written on the front in pencil: 10/- which I believe is 10 shillings. I've had it for years, but never found a use for it - until now. I thought I'd try my hand at using soft pencil, white chalk and working more tonally. I'm still wrestling with the speed that I have to work at during the poses but I guess that's all part of the Life Drawing Game. Learning that economy of line and tone to convey the human body as succinctly as possible. Anyway, it's all for the good causes of Art and Illustration.

Rowney sketchbook

Drawing For Life - 2

The life drawing continues (above The Sparrowhawk, Crystal Palace) in Betty Frankenstien's Drawing Room. It took a while to get my drawing brain to wake up this time (I blame the cider at the weekend's Overground Festival) but I'm quite pleased with the eventual results. I tried to think more about the form of the model, rather than just the lines, this time. Next week, I think I might put down the pencil and use something a bit messier. I'm not that fast, and it would be nice to get to a more finished result in the times allowed for each pose.

Drawing for Life

As my artistic reboot continues apace, I picked up a pencil, headed to Crystal Palace and attended my first life drawing class for AGES.

It was called Betty Frankenstien's Drawing Room and happens once a week in a cosy room above The Sparrowhawk pub. It was the first time I'd done an untutored session: about 2 hours drawing time where you are given free rein to do what you want. A mellow vintage soundtrack accompanied the different poses, and I had a really good evening. I'm very glad I decided to take it up again. I won't let it slip, I promise!