Expressive Figure Drawing

I am taking a 3-day workshop with local artist Bill Buchman . . . and it's a subject where I feel out of my element: Expressive figure drawing. This blip is a photo taken during one of Bill's demos today. I love watching him demo & teach. I've taken many classes and workshops with Bill in years past. He is a very good, knowledgeable and inspiring teacher. You can explore a whole page of blip entries I shared over the past few years about his classes - here! 

I don't think I would be taking this workshop if my friend Paula (who lives in the Bahamas) was not here taking it with me. She & I thought it would be great if we went together! I would say learning figure drawing is not easy, but I do think I improved over the course of the lessons today. In the extras I will put one of my first attempts which is okay, but concentrated too much on the outlines of the body instead of including the contours. The second photo shows a group photo of student work; mine is in the middle, top row. I think by this point I was beginning to get the idea of drawing contours of the body. That exercise was done with a brush that Bill designed and sumi ink, and drawn from a live model. The first one was done from a photo with a type of charcoal pencil. 

Now it is time for sleep! We have to get up early & drive 45 mins to get there! Sorry for my absence from your journals, I will return when the workshop is over later this week. Thanks as always for your visits & comments!!