Jessie Lilac Blog

I went to a life drawing session this morning. I've not been for over 2 years so I was a little nervous, wondering how I'd get on with drawing from life after all this time.  I got on fine as it turned out and the group were a bunch of friendly people including a couple of familiar faces that I remembered from the times I used to go before which made it much easier to feel as though I hadn't been away too long.  Some of the poses were short 10 minute ones and some were longer 30 minute ones.  I felt as though I was back in the swing of it and had a nice time. I shall be going again!  But next time I must remember to take a rubber! (eraser)

I went to art college a few years ago, I'm not saying how many years but it's easy to work out if you need to! During that time and for a few years afterwards I've built up a collection of my life drawings. They've been kept in a folder, tucked away out of sight but I've decided that today is the day I let the world see them and perhaps get a chance to own them if they would like to. :) I've listed them individually on Ebay and it's open to anywhere in the world, so wherever you live, I'll be very happy to post to you! Here are a couple.... Most of them are quite big, measuring around 20 x 30 inches and are all on paper, drawn with charcoal or pastel. You can find them all  here , I hope they'll all find good homes. The listings will end on Saturday 29th September. :)

Yesterday's life drawing. Today's sketchbook page.

Are you ready for lots of pictures? I hope so because today I've got lots here to show! I've spent most of this week inside my sketchbook. I have a commission to do which I'm very excited about but first I need to build up to it by playing around with a few images. Now I've shown you my little sketchbook, here are a couple of pages from my life drawing one, showing this morning's drawings. She was a new model and very nice to draw. This week's word for Illustration Friday is 'Cultivate' and as I had already started a picture along those lines (see top sketchbook photo) I thought I'd finish it off and post it as my submission. And here it is..... I've got another idea too so I might even post that one too! Stayed tuned..

Friday life drawing. Tired but a good morning. time to play with my watercolours... :) I wait patiently and still. I have waited a long time. With the knowledge my time will come. I sit listening for the sign.

Even when I think I've checked my typing for errors, I still manage to let typos slip through the ( butterfly?) net! That's because my head feels like this. This morning was life drawing and luckily for me, I didn't need my brain to draw. Sometimes that's the best way, to disengage it for a while. I have no trouble disengaging it, it's the engaging bit I'm struggling with right now. Is it me or do other creatives have the same problem? hmmm....might just be me then.. No, that's not me, I'm not the model, I'm the drawer. Can 'drawer' be a word for someone who draws or just a place where you keep your socks? (If you're tidy that is and if you indeed have socks.)

It's Friday, my life drawing day again and here's two I did earlier. I was very brave and used an ink pen on the second one - no rubbing out! Have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to. :)

I had a lovely email this morning from a lady that bought my painting The Tree Pose to hang in her sister's yoga studio. The Core Balance Yoga Center can be found HERE. I love to hear where my paintings end up and this is particularly exciting for me because it's travelled all the way from the UK to Missouri! Before my very busy weekend began, I had a nice life drawing session friday morning. The reddish brown drawings are using an Inktense pencil with a little bit of water for the shading. I had to be a bit braver using that because once it's there you can't rub it out! I did a couple of quick studies in black ink too at the end of the session. I like the way these drawings have more strength than the pencil ones, what do you think?

This morning was the first life drawing day. A very cold day it is too and I felt sorry for any life model who had to take their clothes off in this weather! Joy of joys one of my favourite models was there this morning and with the heater on in the room you could almost forget it was winter! Have a nice weekend! :)

Two very contrasting pictures! One serene and beautiful, the other..I don't think he'd feel very serene if he knew I'd put holly on his 'area'! The top Buddha painting I made for a friend's birthday who is an accupuncturist. It's based on the healing, or medicine buddha, Bhaisajyaguru . The second picture is one of the life drawings I did this morning. I thought I'd better add the holly before I posted it here, it was bit full frontal for a decent and respectable blog such as this. It's the last life drawing session before christmas so holly seemed very appropriate!

Let me first show you the view from my window yesterday afternoon. My glass angel looked so lovely against the pink sky I just had to take a picture! Today we have a sunny friday morning. Yes sunny not snowy, sorry rest of the UK but here we have no snow. No doubt I'll soon be eating my words! I saw the satellite pictures of Scotland on the news this morning and it looks as though they're buried! A different model today, different challenges and different shapes. I shall be tacking new shapes next term. New shapes of a different sort. Glass ones!

Here are some life drawings I did this morning. She's a lovely model, I do hope we continue to have her until the end of term. I'm going to do some more to my buddha today before that light disappears!

Friday morning at my life drawing session and the model got the start time wrong and turned up half an hour late so one of the group posed while we waited for her. I really enjoyed drawing his face. Then she arrived, was kitted out in drapery and staff and off we went. She's a great model, keeps beautifully still and has amazingly long hair which I lOved to draw! Well worth the wait. :)

Here's a sketchbook page that evolved through listening to the radio. Certain words jumped out at me and became part of the picture! I like the way that words added to a drawing automatically create a relationship between the two and give the overall picture another layer of meaning. Life drawing this morning and we were lucky enough to have a pregnant model to pose for us. She was a fantastic model, kept really still and those curves! A joy to draw. That fore-shortened leg was a challenge, but I like challenges!