Melia

 

3/9/24 Melia (5-minutes each)

Feeling a bit rusty is one thing. Scouring off five years of heavy corrosion is another!

That’s how I felt Saturday at Gage life drawing – the first time I’d been back in the studio for a full open session since 2019. Of course, I’ve tried to keep up my life-drawing practice all along: I did a little at Drawing Jam last December; I did long-pose life drawing at Gas Works Park in the summers of 2022 and 2021; and a couple times I took classes that included live models. (I’m not counting the couple of years of practice I did with models on live video; while it was all good practice, if it’s on a screen, it’s obviously not “life.”)

Both sketches in 5 minutes

Somehow, though, none of that was quite the same as being back in the studio for three solid hours of short poses, just trying to find my groove again. Fortunately for me, my re-initiation was with Melia, an excellent model with a dance background, she told me, which was apparent in her strong, dynamic poses. I tried my best to convey her grace and fluidity with brush and pencil marks that felt as stiff as getting out of bed each morning.

5 minutes

5 minutes

Regardless, the practice was exactly what I needed as a run-up to the One Week 100 People challenge, which begins today! In my eighth consecutive year of participating in the online challenge initiated by Marc Holmes, I plan to do my hundred all from life. As usual, I’ll be posting my daily sketches on Instagram and catching up here on my blog when the challenge is over. Are you in this year?

10-minute pose

10-minute pose

5 minutes each

10 minutes each

20-minute pose