Pat with fringe

"Pat in a fringe sweater" conte on paper, 24" x 36"

We started Sunday night figure drawing sessions at the Art Establishment now, for those who can't make it on Friday mornings due to work, etc.  I enjoy these sessions so much, it's a time to really just relax and get back to basics.

This drawing is one of Pat wearing a fringe sweater.  It is a 10 minute study, a relatively fast study, but yet, 10 minute studies are the most awkward for me.  There not a super short study like a gesture, but not long enough to really develop the drawing, so I feel like it's really a middle ground, and I hate the middle ground, both in life, and even in a drawing/painting hahaha.  It's too uncertain and vague.  The foreground or front, and background, are always easy to manage, but it's that slippery middle ground and the relations to the front and back that make or break things.  And with a "middle of the road" drawing, not a gesture, and not a complete study, well, things get awkward for me...I usually get caught (proverbially) "with my pants down" as I start developing the drawing and am cut off in an awkward phase of development lololol.  This one is OK...in terms of proportions, her leaning stance, etc., but I really would have liked to further develop some value relations, and guess what, I just don't think that fast on my feet....I do usually, as I am getting used to just "laying it in" and then going back and picking it out, refining it, etc., which is good method when painting in oils, but sometimes, in conte, while drawing, not so much :-D :-D   So in all, it's always a learning curve, no matter where you are "in the game."  That's why I love it so much!