Life, drawing

Even though the Providence area offers plenty of life drawing classes it's been years since I've drawn from the model. Not that I don't want to, but I never seemed to be able to commit the time.  But I finally made it back into the circle of charcoal dust at Kate Huntington's Open Life Drawing. I've only gone twice so far, but it's a great group of very talented artists who are also very sociable, so it's a good time, despite me being so rusty that I begin to doubt I know how to draw at all.

My incentive for finally getting my butt down on the drawing horse was thoughts of beginning a good-sized oil painting of sand dunes to send to Great Sand Dunes National Park in return for my residency last year. While I was out there I kept being struck by how much the curves of the dunes reminded me of the human body, so since I can't sit in the dunes these days, I'll work from the figure and think about how the human body reminds me of the dunes.

The weather is warming up here, low 40s and sunny, so the studio will heat up a lot faster. I'm hearing birds all of a sudden too. In the fall they fall silent one by one so I don't think I really notice... but just one little chirp this time of year and I remember what I've been missing. It's only mid-February though, so I'd better not get too used to it.