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The dark side of the room

Posted: May 25, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized |14 Comments

I arrived a little late at life drawing studio today and ended up in a different spot in the room than usual. Most of the time I sit in a place where the model — lit from the spots above — is about half in light and half in shadow. Today I sat on the darker side of the room and although I was a bit discouraged at first, this turned out to be exactly the right place for what I wanted to do. My aim today was to work with really simple shapes, to unify the shadow areas on the figure and to keep the brush really wet and loose. By sitting in that spot, most of Elissa’s body was in shadow with only a little highlight along the edges. This is in fact easier to paint than when it’s more of a 50/50 split between light and dark. Too bad I figured this out on the last session of the year… I’m hoping that come September my teaching schedule at school will allow me to draw again with this great group of artists.

ElissainMay

14 Comments on “The dark side of the room”

  1. Jane Wright says:
    May 25, 2015 at 6:09 pm

    This is really nice Shari, how long are the poses for these figure paintings?

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    • Shari Blaukopf says:
      May 25, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      These poses are thirty minutes. Not a long time for a watercolour but maybe that’s good since it also makes you work concisely. More time and I would probably mess it up even more. As you can see there are lots of places where I went in to partially wet spots but I was running out of time.

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  2. Sand Salt Moon says:
    May 25, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    learning and doing beautifully

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  3. Janet Sargisson says:
    May 25, 2015 at 7:21 pm

    Lovely painting. Shari, where is this live model atelier on Mondays?

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  4. rodarmstrong says:
    May 25, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    Shari, your sketches are so crisp and clear. Would you mind sharing how you photo and upload your paintings so quickly? PS. I tried to use the comment function unsuccessful.

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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    • Shari Blaukopf says:
      May 25, 2015 at 10:48 pm

      Thanks Rod. I have an Epson Perfection scanner right next to my computer. After I finish my sketch I scan it, make a few adjustments in Photoshop to make sure the scan matches the sketch and then upload. That takes about 5 minutes. Of course writing my post takes a lot longer than that. Sometimes it takes up to 30 minutes to figure out what I am going to say and make sure it’s well written. Sometimes the writing even takes longer than the sketch itself.
      As for the comment function, if you comment for the first time I have to approve you first so it should appear now.

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  5. drawandshoot says:
    May 26, 2015 at 10:58 am

    That’s beautiful, Shari!

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  6. Ross says:
    May 26, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    Nicely done! I think that I have suggested to you ages ago that you should try “looking into the sun” to get dramatic effects. If I remember correctly, good on you for following my advice.

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    • Shari Blaukopf says:
      May 27, 2015 at 7:18 pm

      Thanks Ross. I don’t remember getting that advice from you. Maybe you were thinking it but forgot to write it…

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      • Ross says:
        May 27, 2015 at 9:50 pm

        So, let me clarify… “you” don’t remember me giving you this really good advice, therefore “I” must have forgotten to write it… is that what you are trying to say?

        [sorry, had to use quotation marks for emphasis… this blog site doesn’t seem to accommodate underlined, bold or italic text]

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