Art Gallery of Ontario - The Marchesa Casati

Recently, I worked on a pencil crayon study of the Marchesa Casati by Augustus John from 1919. It was interesting to hear that Augustus John was actually the lover of the Marchesa. Her painting in the European Gallery at the AGO is magnetic and you can feel how the artist has such an emotional connection with her.

I am thinking of turning my attention to the Warrior Emperor and China`s Terracotta Army at the Royal Ontario Museum.

TSA- August 29 2010

Another marathon day at TSA with the morning and afternoon session. Above is another 2.5 hour study to explore the figure with a little more patience. K was the model for the day and did another great job.

Below are some drawings from the morning session.

TSA - Figure Drawing Intensive with Thomas Hendry

I had the pleasure of taking a week long intensive in Figurative Anatomy with Thomas Hendry at the Toronto School of Art from August 23-27. It was awesome.

Thomas is a very thorough instructor with and a very easy going manner. I think all of our brains were going to explode by week`s end.

We explored amongst other things, the skeletal and musculature masses, proportion, balance, foreshortening, heads, hand, feet and the kitchen sink.

I thank Thomas for his help and encourage anyone who wants to learn more about figure drawing to take one of his classes. Below are a few of the studies we did throughout the week.

TSA - August 22nd, 2010

I decided to stay for the afternoon single pose session at TSA for a longer study. The above work is about 2.5 hours and more of a slow exploration of contours. I believe by periodically doing longer studies, that when you return to quicker gestures there is an unconscious retention that carries over. I love the quiet of a Sunday afternoon of drawing..very meditative.

Below are some of my drawings from the morning session.

TSA - August 15th 2010

G was putting another strong performance as model this evening. I do not think my right hand was up to the task..it took me a while to find my stride.

TSA - August 12th 2010

C was posing at TSA tonight. Very defined model. It is sometimes too much information when you see someone with such predominant musculature...simplify, simplify.

TSA - August 5 2010

New model at TSA ,named K. She says she is new to life modeling but is a natural. I have never seen so many triangles in a figure before. It is always very interesting how each model has a certain affinity to certain forms.

TSA July 18 2010

Sunday morning Life Drawing with D. It was not the best morning for myself, my gestures were clunky and non-cohesive. A few of the longer poses at the end started to come to together, but I omitted the chair in one of the drawings and it appears the model is levitating.