Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Naomie - Oil on Board 9 x 12

Most Monday mornings, I kick off the week with a painting session at Basic Inquiry , an artist-run life drawing society in Vancouver, BC. I love the atmosphere of the group, a dozen or so artists all in deep concentration, trying our best to produce a good result. Some are drawing with charcoal, pencil or pastel, some paint with watercolours. A few of us work in oils. The studio provides easels and drawing horses and we circle round the model, who sits in the same pose for three hours. We do let her take breaks.

The time flies by and three hours is a short time to paint a portrait. I consider this a sketch. Next Monday, we have the same model, same pose, so I'll have a chance to fine tune things, the lights and darks and the shape of the eyes, to start with. I find noses particularly difficult and will be scouring books for painted images in a similar pose to get some hints. A couple of the other artists asked me for advice today (Yes!) which made me feel darn good.