This is the first post in a long line to come. I have been studying the human figure in live sketch classes on a weekly basis for over 5 years now. I've recently begun my weekly study group again and I'm going to be posting images that I feel were successful from the day. The group meets on Sundays from 1-7pm with a 2 hour critique afterwards. It's pretty intense and there are a lot of exercises that we do to help understand mass, form, space, graphics, theatrics, composition, and good old picture making in general. If you live in the Long Island NY area and would like to develop your ability to make pictures you can find more info on the class here > www.thedrawingstudioli.com Here are the images that I chose for this week. Each week I'll have more images to post. I will try to offer a brief synopsis of why I chose each image…….(all images were created from the live model holding 15-20 minute poses)Image 1: Chosen for it's sense of graphics and how that creates a mood and a feeling, slightly seedy and burlesque. I also enjoy the limited color palette of pink. Seems to suit the pose well..

Image 2: Chosen again for the limited color palette and how that sublteness enhances the mood of the image. I also like the diversity in graphics on this image. It feels structural and that's one of the themes that I'm entertaining at this time…

Image 3: Chosen for the abstraction that runs through the figure created by the wash of red oxide. I like the distortion that's used to create space between the feet as well….

Image 4: Chosen because of the weight and the volume that's displayed. The layering of graphics and the reinvention of the form helps give the composition a feeling of visceral mass. The exercise used to create this image is called "5 lbs of Bologna in a 3 lb bag".

Image 5: Chosen for many reasons…I enjoy the variation in line weights and the interesting graphics they create, the subtle variations in color, the graphics of the brushstrokes, and the juxtaposition between the grey tones and the more saturated colors……