The Group

This was a fun venture with my watercolor class.  It was a brush with the abstract.  On plain white paper using no pencil, we charged ahead with heads and then gesture bodies.  Everyone tried it and were surprised.  It was all done in 20-30 minutes.  They were definitely out of their comfort zone, but let loose and came up with some pretty interesting groups.  Each painting seemed to have a story.  So often, we paint a landscape that just calls for a human figure but pass it up because of fear of painting figures.  Hopefully, we are over that phobia, anyone can put in a gesture figure. 

Gesture Drawing

I spend a day a week sketching 2 and 4 minute gesture poses.  It is a wonderful exercise to sharpen your eye and drawing skills.  We start with 10 two minute poses and I try all sorts of things to make each one different. I use charcoal, sharpie, pencil, and watercolor.  I try circles, contour drawing, and negative space approaches.  At the end of the session, I am tired. Drawing the human figure from short poses is work.