'Fight Club' at the Keyhole Sessions

Because I like to keep a record, and also to show you, I've uploaded my untouched drawings from The Keyhole Session last night, the last life-drawing session of its kind ever.

They're all charcoal drawings, some with watercolour crayons, some with Cretacolor Aquarelle oil pastels. The first eight are approximately 15" x 11" and on 130lb archival art paper; the last is 16" x 12" and on triple-primed cotton canvas sheet.

The theme was The Fight Club and there were about 20 models arrayed around the room. The Madame's sense of performance, dramatic poses and grand spectacle shone spectacularly in the spacious Mod Club in Toronto.

Below, there was still time after drawing the first image, so I began on the 2nd, for which I had only a minute or two left - it's much more gestural. Except for that one, they are 15 minute sketches, with the final group one being 45 minutes.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with my work last night. My artist friends, Jen Hosein and Jacques Albert, also came and the camaraderie was nice.

Sonia Barnett, the mastermind and Madame behind these sessions, took the photo below and posted it on Facebook while the session was in-progress. You can see me bottom centre, and the model directly in front of me is who the first drawing posted above is of. It was quite an event, as you can see from this terrific photograph.

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Woman in Gladiator Corset and Ribbons, from Nuit Blanche

(An update.) Still tinkering. Her bent leg was too long in the version posted below this one, I thought. And without the pillar behind her, the shadow didn't make sense, so I've tried to decrease it. While I have used some Golden titanic white acrylic to cover the original charcoal lines, the Cretacolor Aquastics, or water-soluble oil pastels, all the colour that you see, do rub off mostly with water (which is a very nice thing about using them on canvas). Once I spray with an archival fine art fixative, everything, of course, sets permanently.

That arm is bothering me still. The original sketch was done too quickly in a darkly lit room (for the artists, the models were well lit with stage lights) for my normally slow drawing.

I really am more interested in the energy, sensuality and colour of these small charcoal and pastel paintings, and anatomy must serve that, and so I don't worry too much unless it interferes with the overall flow. Does that arm interfere in your viewing, and what would you suggest for 'fixing' it? If the eye skirts over it, as a vertical line, like the dancer's pole, then it's ok, no?

Woman in Ribbons, 2012, 11" x 14", charcoal, oil pastels, acrylic on triple-primed canvas sheet.




(Original post.) Today I finished one of the sketches I started at 'LES CHEVAUX, a late night drawing extravaganza,' hosted by The Keyhole Sessions, a Rogue Nuit Blanche event. She wore an incredible headdress composed of many multi-coloured ribbons, and I could not see her face from my angle.



Woman in Gladiator Corset and Ribbons, 2012, Brenda Clews, 11" x 14", charcoal and water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas sheet.



Original raw sketch.

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Drawing of My Niece

She was drawing me while I was drawing her. Last night, our Thanksgiving, here in Canada. It doesn't 'look' like her in a photographic sense, but she said I could post it. Photo taken on iPhone4 with daylight bulbs. Charcoal and water-soluble oil pastels (cretacolor aquastics) on 11" x 13" canvas sheet.

Basically, she sat in this position for maybe 5 minutes, long enough to do a quick charcoal sketch. Then I had to imagine the way her body was. Though I did get the terrific colours she was wearing, that green sweater and those red tights, smashing, really, and perhaps something of her spirit, when she is pensive, that is.

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Paris Black models at Epique Lounge on Nuit Blanche

Paris Black models at Epique Lounge on Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, 12" x 16", charcoal, acrylic, water-soluble oil pastels, triple-primed canvas sheet.

My Nuit Blanche Paris Black sketch. Worked on a little. I had sprayed the original sketch (that you see below) with a 'fine art' fixative and that seems to have created a finish that the water-soluble oil pastels do not adhere so well to. I added more colour anyway. It will rub off at this point, but I'll re-spray it with the fixative so that will stabilize it. What you see here is about as far as I can take the picture. I'm satisfied with it. A scan of a detail.




Paris Black, rock star, musician, artist, super model, artist's model on Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, unfinished sketch, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels, triple-primed canvas sheet.

First I did the figure on the right, but was drawing with my sketch pad flat on the table at the Epique Lounge in Yorkville, and so he was elongated. I had dutifully coloured it with vibrant blues, blacks and flesh colours, including his blonde hair, but wet a paper towel and wiped out the whole sketch, leaving a shadow of it. Then I drew his next pose on top of the original, but only in charcoal - with my sketch pad at 45 deg angle this time. Lol. There wasn't time to begin colouring it with washes. Hopefully this week I'll get to it.

A teacher from the Academy of Realist Art was there, as well as a number of other fantastic artists, like Kerry Kim, with superlative graphic arts skills, and my friend, Jennifer Hosein, whose work is strong and bold, so I tried for something spiritual, a zeitgeist perhaps. I do hope Paris likes my little attempt.

Nik Beat, fresh back from his trip to St. John's with Laura Rock, recited his poem, Unkill, and there's an interesting video of him reciting it in the old World War II bunkers in St. John. Brandon Pitts also recited some of his poetry - he is a consumate master of the poetry performance. And Paris asked me to read, so I read Dance/ ...indigo folio leaves, which there is also a dance videopoem of.

It was a warm, wonderful Nuit Blanche event. Drawing into the early hours in an extraordinary space, I felt we were in the best place in a busy city. It was our secret, this enclave.

A photo of Jen and I, hard at work!

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'LES CHEVAUX, a late night drawing extravaganza,' hosted by The Keyhole Sessions, a Rogue Nuit Blanche event!

'LES CHEVAUX, a late night drawing extravaganza,' hosted by The Keyhole Sessions was an awesome Rogue Nuit Blanche event! The offerings, incredible. Outfits, poses, the whole set-up, pure brilliance of the dear Madame, Sonia Barnett.

There was not a lot of time to pick and draw one of 5 or 6 ongoing poses, each with one or two models, since they changed every 15 minutes or so. I brought a whack of art supplies with me for this session. First I did a quick charcoal sketch; then I broke out my large set of water-soluble oil pastels and scribbled in colour; finally, I wet a brush and slid it over the figures so their lines turned into paint. I like to show 'the morning after, as is.' If I manage to further work on these, of course I will also post those whenever that happens (all my Keyhole life drawings are in a Picasa album).

Two Women, Keyhole at Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, unfinished sketch, Brenda Clews, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas.



Woman in Corset with Fishnet Stockings and Doc Martens Boots, Keyhole at Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, unfinished sketch, Brenda Clews, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas.



Woman in Ribbons, Keyhole at Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, unfinished sketch, Brenda Clews, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas.



Two Sketches (iPhone photo), Keyhole at Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, Brenda Clews, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas.



Four Sketches, Keyhole at Nuit Blanche, 29 Sep 2012, Brenda Clews, 12" x 16", charcoal, water-soluble oil pastels on triple-primed canvas



The Emotions Running Through It (Surreal Sketch), digitally finished, Brenda Clews, 2012, 20" x 13.5", charcoal, coloured pencil, water-soluble oil pastels on 90lb archival paper.



One of the many models; one of the many poses (five or six poses concurrently, which you can't see in this iPhone snap). Isn't she gorgeous? Because I was still working on a previous pose by a different model, I did not draw this one. Wish I had!


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