Figuredrawing.netPastels | Figuredrawing.net

Portrait of Samantha

Daniel — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:02:54 +0000

This is my first pastel portrait of Samantha and her first long term pose at Hipbone Studio in Portland, Oregon. I finished this drawing in two sessions, it’s done in Nupastels on unfamiliar paper that a student traded me for my traditional Stonehenge. It took me a while to get used to the texture. The tooth is soft and most of the pastel falls off of the surface. I was frustrated with the first layer and considered scrapping the drawing. I was going to paint in oil on the second session but had forgotten to prep when the time came. I pulled this one back out of the ash can and spent the next three hours or so tweaking it. That’s Samantha’s body, she says her face looks like a hybrid of her and Catherine Deneuve.

Check out Samantha’s hats at Etsy.

Hidden Treasures

Daniel — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:33:40 +0000

I found these in my newsprint pad, a couple of nice drawings that didn’t make it with there earlier posts. I like this one of Trisha in the hat. The second is the last drawing of Samantha from Deer Island. I drew most of it in the dark, that’s why it looks like a banana.

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Sunday at PNCA

Daniel — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:27:19 +0000

My friend James King mentioned the Sunday session over at PNCA to me yesterday. He told me Louise was to be the model. I’d drawn her before in a basement session in NE Portland. She had great presence so I thought that I would give it a shot. Nice to see both Jodi But and F.X. Rosica there. It’s the first time I’ve been to one of Carol Beckerman’s sessions in years. Louise was perfect as was the lighting. It was very crowded and the energy from the group helped me make a nice drawing. Thanks Louise, lovely work.

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Deer Island and Sister Thyme

Daniel — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:15:05 +0000

I spent Thursday and Friday at Dee Vadnais’ house in Deer Island with Quin Sweetman, Erik Sandgren, Gretchen Vadnais and Kathryn Cotnoir drawing one of my favorite models, Samantha Beasley. There was snow on the ground, wonderful food and excellent company. Thanks to everyone and special thanks to Dee for getting this together and to Samantha for her inspiring work. Check out her blog and her profile on MM.

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Krissy and Julie

Daniel — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:43:28 +0000

These are pastel studies from last Wednesday. Krissy was the afternoon model and Julie, the evening. I got lost in Julie’s hair on her last pose, wishing I’d brought some oils and had a couple of hours to study all of that gold,

Three Pastel Study

Daniel — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:49:09 +0000

I’ve refreshed my technique with pastels in preparation for my upcoming workshop. Last night was the last 3 hour session in the long-term series for February at Hipbone Studio.
Last week I did a straight portrait of Ariel from the shadow side of the pose. I composed the piece with a raw sienna pastel straight on to the page. I kept the palette simple, 5–6 colors and on the cool side for the shadows.

This week I worked with the same Stonehenge paper and the same Nupastel, but laid in a rich, warm tone before I started my drawing. This does a number of things, it creates and instant midtone, gives the piece an overall consistent light color and makes mistakes easier to smudge away. The last art has a much warmer tone, better color and a tighter, more finished look. I’ve included a couple of steps here, just for fun. Compare this drawing to last week’s.

Thanks to Ariel for the inspiration.

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Sivonna at Hipbone

Daniel — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:42:03 +0000

I’m teaching a pastel seminar in March at Hipbone Studio so I’ve dropped the pen and sketchbook for the time being and picked up the pastel. I shot these with my iPhone on location, hence the color and the weird shadows. The model today was Sivonna, a woman my friend James told me about. He sketched her lips on a napkin while he explained her slight overbite. “It’s very hard to catch just right.” he said. He’s right, I never caught it, though I did catch the glow in her skin. I’d like to do some more work with Sivonna in the future.

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Ariel at the February Long Term

Daniel — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:21:24 +0000

Here’s a pastel of Ariel at the Hipbone Studio February Long Term Pose. I came into this session on the second sitting so most of the front and three-quarter places were taken. I decided to give Ariel’s profile a go. She has an amazing nose and a forehead that’s covered in bangs most of the time. I’m a big fan of bangs, they remind me of one of my favorite Lautrec’s, La Toilette. They are an instant icon for me. So here’s my shot at Ariel, sans bangs and without my normal color palette. It’s not too bad for what it is, a study of face and hand, in shadow. I had to ask her what she was wearing around her neck. What I thought was a Celtic cross is actually a sliver of geode or agate. Amazing what the mind wants to see.

Pastel Study of Shida

Daniel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:19:47 +0000

Shida the Cheetah is leaving Chattanooga for the west coast. She sat for our drawing group at Townsend Atelier for the last time (at least for a while) I had one sheet of Stonehenge and my trusty box of Nupastels so I spent the majority of the time on the other side of this drawing, making gestures, wiping them out and doing a sketch that looked like a painting you’d find in a bar. There were two 30 minute poses left and I decided to layer them on top of one another. I shot this from my iPhone, so it’s a bit rough but she liked the result and I gave it to her as a going away present. Best of luck Shida-San!

Drawing in August 2010

Daniel — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:31:04 +0000

I’ve left my studio at The Rivoli Art Mill on the 19th of this month and have been drawing at Townsend Atelier in their fabulous new studio. I’m working on newsprint here, using Nupastels. These are some drawings from those sessions featuring Paige, Sara and Shida. It’s been awhile since I’ve worked in pastel, I do like the immediacy of the color and the texture that it brings to my drawings.