Life-drawing: Paris Black @ Hittite Gallery on Nuit Blanche 2013

Paris Black @ Hittite Gallery on Nuit Blanche 2013, 7.5"x9.5", mixed media on 130lb neutral pH 25% cotton paper.

I haven't done any life drawing in awhile, and was hankering to do some. Can't really assess the drawing since many artists from the Realist school draw and paint Paris and their work is marvelous. I don't aim for anything close to a photograph, but I do like some likeness to the model. It's if-y here - he's older than he appears in this drawing, and yet anyone who knows Paris and the many drawings and paintings of him floating around Toronto would know who this is.

In one year, since beginning his own group, the Epique Lounge artists group, he was chosen as a top International model by The Louvre and will be posing there at the end of October. And in China he was picked as top model of the year and flown there for drawing sessions.

He's a talented rock star, a brilliant man, an artist himself, and his focus, he says, during the exceptionally long sits of modelling is to focus on the artists doing the very best work they can.

He's a great guy, and a friend.



Paris Black Posing @Hittite Gallery Nuit Blanche 2013 -photo by Luis Arellano

Here's a cell phone pic of the life-drawing event. That's my hand in the lower right corner. :)

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#4 drawing from the final Keyhole Life-Drawing Session finished

This is the drawing I did last night, and that I'm not too happy with. I used conte crayons and some pastel pencils on what is really a watercolour paper, so the texture of the paper peeps through. I finished a sketch (which I included here) from the very last Keyhole Life-Drawing session whose theme was 'Fight Club.'

4-final, Keyhole Sessions, 12013, Brenda Clews, 15" x 11", charcoal, conte crayon, pastel pencils, 130lb archival paper.

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'White Wedding' at The Keyhole Sessions

Finally just did a photo shoot of this series. The Keyhole Sessions, 13 November 2012, and the theme was, 'White Wedding.' The Madame herself posed, and wore her wedding dress or various undresses of it. I had to leave early to be on Nik Beat's radio show, HOWL, to promote our poetry reading the following Sunday, so did the final drawing in a few quick minutes. Some of them (1, 6, 7) have had a bit of work; most are as is from that evening.

1- Women and Paper Lanterns, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 16" x 13", charcoal, coloured conte crayons, archival art paper.

2- The Madame I, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 16" x 13", charcoal, archival art paper.

3- White Wedding, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 16" x 13", charcoal, archival art paper.

4- The Madame II, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 11" x 15", charcoal on primed cotton canvas sheet.

5- Woman, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 16" x 13", charcoal, Cretacolor aquarelle oil pastels, archival art paper.

6- Women of the Ocean, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 16" x 13", charcoal, coloured conte crayons, Cretacolor aquarelle oil pastels, archival art paper.

7- Two Women, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 15" x 11", charcoal, Cretacolor aquarelle oil pastels, India ink, primed cotton canvas sheet.

8- Three Women, Brenda Clews, 13 Nov 2012, Life-Drawing at The Keyhole Sessions, theme: White Wedding, 15" x 11", charcoal, India Ink on primed cotton canvas sheet. I was rushing out to be on Nik Beat's radio show to promote an upcoming poetry reading and stopped at the back of the room, threw a canvas sheet onto the bar, and drew as quickly as I could. Painting this one might be fun.

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Another Drawing from the last Keyhole Life Drawing Session

Another drawing from the Keyhole Sessions 'White Wedding' on Nov 13, 2012. Untouched (I may tinker later on), charcoal, 11" x 15", archival paper. A 10 minute sketch. Click to see larger size.



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'Two Women': life drawing at The Keyhole Sessions

I forgot to set my computer to record the radio show I was on, along with Jen Hosein and Pen Smith, to promote our poetry reading on the 25th. Oh well. It was a busy day. The show was truly wonderful, though, and I will share it as soon as I get a copy.

But I did go to the 2nd last Keyhole Sessions life drawing event and have a few drawings to show. Rather than filling one post with them, as usual, because they're coming to an end (only one more session), I'll post one at a time.

These are the raw sketches, before I do anything to them. Of course, I'll post any that do get worked on as well.

'Two Women,' 2012, 15" x 12", charcoal, water-soluble wax crayons and oil pastels, India ink on canvas sheet.

The pose was quite complicated and time ran out, as it always does. While it was a 25 min pose, I chose not to work on the correctness of the drawing itself; rather, I drew something general and then spent most of the time colouring it with water-soluble oil pastels. While I tend to think that I can do colouring at home, really I can't. It's best done on-site. Luckily, the painting had a half hour to dry before I grabbed a cab to get to Nik's radio show, HOWL. Later that night, at home, I added some ink lines. Sometimes I wish we could take reference photos at life drawing sessions. Here the cross-over of limbs and intertwining of figures in 3D space was hard to translate into a 2D sketch, and I can see that spending more time on the basic sketch itself would have helped. Adding colour in the time allotted for the pose meant I had to move on before feeling that the drawing was as good as I could do. Meaning, the figures are a little abstract - expressions of feeling, I guess. Still, I feel it's an okay piece in the style of colouring developing in these figure drawings from life-drawing sessions.

The photograph was taken in direct sunlight to get the best white balance, and you are also seeing all the detail; on the wall, however, it is a little darker, more solidified.
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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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The Keyhole Sessions: 'Envy'

A Keyhole Life Drawing Session last night. The Keyhole is still working through the Seven Deadly Sins, and last night was Envy. These are all charcoal on 18" x 24" sheets of 90lb archival paper, or, in the last of the one of three models, pencil on primed canvas.

I put a post up of the ones with a Photoshop filter added to G+ and Facebook (see the end of this post), and the dearth, the silence, it was resounding. So I removed the 'offensive' drawings from both sites, and put this note up instead:

I deleted the Keyhole Session post I put up earlier. I keep forgetting that I shouldn't. Because it's staged performance, and while not my sexuality, I do support the freedom of others to practice 'alternative sexualities' if it's between consenting adults and no-one gets hurt. There is mojo in these life drawing sessions; the poses are great. Everyone at The Keyhole is an artist, all the models, the lady who runs it, those who come to draw. Everyone I've met is sweet in way young people are, and the atmosphere is happy, and everyone, artists and models, work very, very hard. It takes place in a bar. The models are on the stage, lit by stage lights, and we draw in a darkened room with drinks if we wish.

But posting the results of these few hours of drawing isn't fine in a public forum, or even an artist's forum, as those I belong to at G+ and on Facebook. I should know this from the past two times I attended one of these sessions. I even sat next to the art teacher who goes every month and does great drawings but who never posts them on-line. When asked, because he posts lots of other life drawing he does around the city, he says, "No, I never post these." He shrugs. It's not his 'thing,' and yet who would understand? Not posting makes sense. There's nothing inherently wrong with this life-drawing venue, but people make assumptions, and judgements. An embarrassing moment that I witnessed was afterwards, when one of the models came over and asked if he was "-"; he said yes. And she bubbled, "You taught me art in high school." He didn't know what to say; clearly he was trying to place her, this beautiful plump woman with purple hair. He found the drawings he'd done of her - all magnificently beautiful - and she oooh-ed one of them, but was talking to others and didn't pay much attention. I think he was trying to give them to her as a gift. He pulled them back and stuffed them into his portfolio and left. 

That said, below are the drawings I did last night, untouched. My mother is fast fading, and the family is spinning into a vortex. I don't when, or if I'll ever get back to 'finish' these, even to clean up their clumsiest spots.

And here's a slideshow of the drawings with the Photoshop filter I added (that I posted on-line, and also sent to The Keyhole Sessions for their the-morning-after-the-night-before-roundup/drawings):

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