It finally stopped raining. We’ve had more rain in the last month here in the Washington area than I remember from EVER. The first rain is surpassingly lovely. The 17th day of rain, on the other hand, can be a tad disappointing.
But the rain has stopped. Hurray! Nonetheless I do not find myself bounding with energy. I decided to adopt a more laid back approach in the life class. I am not abandoning larger than life sized, fauvist colored portrait heads forever but I might be finished with them for now. I’m not sure. In yesterday’s class, I made a smaller drawing. It still involved having to draw the head larger than I see it, but the enlargement was much less dramatic and thus easier on the brain. I also used local colors. I decided to phone it in.
It’s a life class so the poses are not really set up for portrait anyway, which made all my previous drawings that much more of a challenge. There’s challenge too, though, in the simple, straight-forward drawing, so my new approach to the model for probably the duration of the class will be more laid back. Draw whatever is there. No straining for a certain viewpoint (I sat on the floor in one class session). Just open my eyes, be grateful, draw. That’s the plan.
Aletha Kuschan's Weblog 
Great to see you back, you have not posted for a while? Intersting to hear you are considering a new approach to your drawing, I find I also am pushed into new tastes of my own every now and then. Hope you get lots of enjoyment from your art.
Ideally I’d continue with my project, but I have faced a lot of difficulties that are mostly technical. I am still eager to carry out this idea at some juncture, particularly since I had really just begun exploring the possibilities of that format. But for the present since it’s a figure drawing class many of the poses are ill-suited to my project anyway. Thus I bow to this reality. Or, the pose might be wonderful except that I find myself located in an inauspicious part of the room, etc. Getting the view you want is a gamble — not just for me but for any one individual. However, I’m very happy with some of images I got. It’s been a wonderful venture over-all.
To illustrate the technical challenges, often the model’s head at sight-size would appear to be perhaps two or three inches tall. In contrast I was drawing a picture where the head might be a foot tall. If I was also seeing the head in foreshortening, it became more difficult still.
It’s fun to take on a big challenge. And now I’m just being a bit more relaxed. Recharging the batteries, so to speak.