Fun with Figures

"Kids and Dogs" 

8 x 16 

For a while now, I've been exploring different ways to express body language with just a few well placed strokes. I've never been a very "accurate" painter, believing that the intuitive expression of a thing is far better than a precise copy. I would like to have a better understanding of proportion though, so when I saw Diane Rappisi's figure drawing class at the North River Arts Society last September, I signed on. Her method is designed to capture the gesture of the pose with just a few straight lines, creating large geometric shapes first. We then "concentrate on the big shapes of light and dark. Work big to small, dark to light. Like putting together a puzzle." Everything I've been taught over and over, from John Kilroy to Ken Auster. It's what I teach my students! So why is it so hard for me to get my brain to act nice and let me handle a live model the same way I do an apple or a barn? I have really struggled in this class. I guess "letting go of what we know" is tougher than I thought.  

  

Here are a few of my efforts from class 

Go figure.