Hands and faces.

Asleep.

More studies.

I wanted to practice some earth textures, so flipping open "Tibet: The Secret Continent" by Michael Peissel was a great place to start. Oh, Tibet.

And then my studious model posed for me a bit.

Life drawing.

A spouse takes on a lot of cost-effective roles, one of which is a nude model that doesn't require payment or leaving the house. Thanks to my husband, who is a super good sport. Foreshortening terrifies me, but I love the shoulder/armpit/upper arm area so much that I'm willing to work through it.

Once I get warmed up and feel comfortable with anatomy again, I like feeling the different thick-to-thins slide off the graphite oh so naturally. Made up people! Whee!

30 minute life drawing.

Laundromat!

I haven't been working much this past month because I've been in the process of moving. It's not really about the packing, or the address changes, or being busy in any way. It's really rather psychological. Sitting down at my table resulted in a broken record of "this isn't going to be my home anymore". Creativity just doesn't really happen when I'm in a nesting kind of mood. At least, not the kind of creativity that anyone cares about ("look at this delightful arrangement of incense in a decorative vase! oh, I'm a GENIUS!").

Now that I am here in my new apartment, I do my washing at a laundromat. I thought I'd try doing some marker sketches - the sort I've been ogling at in books. I really do envy how freely and accurately some of these people can successfully reign in something as potent as a wild streamer of manganese blue. My manganese blue sketches still look like blueberry airsickness. Anyway, I want to study this laundromat more. It looks like it hasn't been furnished, painted, or otherwise altered since 1978... complete with the Ms. Pac-Man, "Suds 'n More" vending machine, and absurdly faded posters of wildlife. It's ripe for kitschy sketches.

Water studies.

As much as I told the river to hold still, it wouldn't listen. Never have I known such stubbornness!

A perspective I always have issues with.

My husband, looking like John F. Kennedy - it was a warm-up! - then tilting his head back at various angles. Practice, practice, practice. I hate this angle because it's hard to know which lines to emphasize and how to keep the face from looking flat (like the bottom left).

Mastiff flop.