Tina, charcoal sketches at the IAC

These are this week's portraits from life at the IAC here in The Hague. Each sketch is about 20 to 30 minutes.

Portraits in charcoal, Li

Li is a model for the Beauty Project, but sometimes sits for us at the International Art Club. (I'm responsible for arranging the models and coordinating the class.)

More portraits...

obviously, these four portraits are not all of the same model. Three were done today here in the Hague at the International Art Club, and the fourth was done two weeks ago. There's something so satisfying about drawing in charcoal, from life.

Some drawings from the IAC

I love drawing this model. These drawings are from this week at the International Art Club of the Hague.

Some recent drawings at the IAC

These drawings are from short poses (15 to 20 minutes) by a live model, Heny, done at the International Art Club of The Hague this week.

Monique

Charcoal on paper, 2 by 3 feet.

This is a 20 minute sketch from life. I've been working hard on portraiture skills, and feel like I'm making progress. What I like about this drawing of Monique, is that the drawing captures what she looks like. Which is what I'm trying to learn how to do. Now, the challenge is to do this with more reliability.

This week's portraits at the IAC

Sometimes I think I'm improving at this portrait thing, sometimes it feels impossible.
These stands are all about 20 minutes, except for the small drawings which are a little less than 10 minutes.

This week's live models

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This weeks drawings at the International Art Club of the Hague...with thanks to Pien Hazenburg, for her help with the portraits. Drawing from live models is such fun. These poses were from 10 to 30 minutes. It is great going so fast, you really have to draw only what you see, not what you know. I like the strength of the model in the full figure pose, and the expression in the face of the woman posing for the portrait.

Portraits this week - Petra

These stands are between 10 and 30 minutes. The model, Petra, was really fun to work with, since her portraits just drew themselves. The entire class was inspired, everyone did great work.

This week's drawings from the IAC

I wasn't really that happy with this week's drawings, but here are a selection. Drawing from live models is a great way to improve one's ability to observe closely, and to learn how to quickly translate that observation onto paper.

The drawings on this page took between five minutes to 30 minutes.

Owtin portrait series

These are portraits done at the International Art Club of the Hague. Each portrait is about 60 by 100 centimeters, very big. Which one is your favorite?

Winter at East Twin Lake, Minnesota

I've been taking an abstract painting class at the International Art Club of the Hague. This is a painting of a lake in north-central Minnesota in winter, from memory. It is kind of an abstract landscape, in that it comes entirely from what I remember, without reference to a photo. Painting this way is very liberating, allowing me to "see" and apply the paint in a very different way. Because I am not trying to represent what is in front of me, I am free to explore the paint's texture and color and its application becomes much looser and freer.

International Art Club, my first meeting of the new season

The new season of the International Art Club has started up, and I am glad to be back. I have made several friends there - I will go out plein air painting with one of them, others will come to the open studio tomorow. I will be the organizor of the Tuesday night modeling sessions starting in january - they needed a volunteer. Fun times! I am starting to feel more at home here in the Hague. Below are pics of last nights session, and some self-portrait sketches I made at home.