Fueled by Clouds & Coffee: The Same Foreshortened Nose

3/15/18 20-min. pose

Earlier this week when I was organizing my sketchbooks, I came across a Strathmore toned spiralbound book that I had used during life drawing only a few times. Most of it was still unused. Although I’m not crazy about the paper (I much prefer Stillman & Birn Nova), I like the size and format, so I threw it into the bag I take to life drawing.

3/14/13 10-min. pose

On Thursday our model was Randy, a long-time Gage regular whom I’ve drawn many times. During the break, I started thumbing through the Strathmore sketchbook and found several sketches of Randy that were dated March 14, 2013 – almost exactly five years ago. I found one pose that I had drawn from a particularly awkward angle, giving me a view straight up his nostrils. I remembered it because I had written a blog post about that foreshortened nose. Laughing when I showed it to him, Randy said he had just been thinking he would take that very same reclining pose for the next 20 minutes! And he did, just for me.

I could have moved my chair to a different location to avoid that awkward view, but now it’s a tradition (top of page). I’ll remind him of it five years from now.

Shown at right is the one I did in 2013. Below are a few more sketches of Randy from Thursday.