Life Drawing

My second daughter has moved back to TX from Brooklyn for a few months to work as a production assistant on my husband's project.  It is such a delight to have her back home for more than an extended period!  Other than holidays she hasn't lived here since she left for college in 2003.
As a visual art student at the local magnet school for the arts she was encouraged to attend life-drawing sessions that are offered twice-weekly at a local art academy.  Actually, all 3 of my daughters, all visual art majors in college, took advantage of these drawing sessions over the years, and I would occasionally go with them.
We agreed that we should take advantage of this opportunity and last night was our first evening of life-drawing at the Coppini Academy since she graduated from high school.  I'm going to share a plein aire oil painting that she did of her father when she was in high school.

Tim, sitting in his ancient (and now dead) pick-up truck.

I remember when she painted this because it was cold outside!

Sketching at the life-drawing class

Thursday evening life-drawing sessions are set up in the following way:  15 one-minute poses, then 12 five-minute poses, one 10-minute pose, and finally a 20-minute pose.  The drawing session lasted 2.5 hours.  I worked with both an ebony pencil and charcoal.  The following are selected poses of all my drawings (these in charcoal) from last night:

5 minute pose

5 minute pose

20 minute pose

We hope to make this a regular habit.  The Wednesday evening sessions consist of longer poses.  We think we need to do a couple more Thursday sessions which, frankly, are more challenging than drawing longer poses, in order to get our drawing juices flowing again.  It was so enjoyable, and the perfect follow-up to my portraiture workshop in September.

My goal is to start painting regularly again.  I hope to paint in both oil and thickened dye.  I have a few plans "up my sleeve" for pieces I want to do on cloth.  I miss painting.  It must be time to return to it.