Back to school -- seriously

 After Labour Day, it's back to school -- seriously.  My basic course work for fall semester will be drawing sessions at Basic Inquiry Studio in alternate weeks, supplemented by some special events here and there.

My plans for "summer school" were lost in the lazy days of summer, and after my most recent session in early August, the month morphed out of shape.  That August session was a bit out of shape itself, despite another terrific model.

I happened not to have the drawing tool I'd planned to use (a soft-grade Conté crayon), and that set me off on an insecure start with these 1-minute drawings:

 

I'd pre-planned some approaches to work on, and at least I managed a somewhat interesting planar analysis among the 5-minute poses:

By the time we were into ten minutes poses, I was having some discouraging problems with proportion.  (I think of this as The Day of the Incredible Shrinking Lower Legs).

 

Usually the last blast -- the three final half-hour poses -- makes the best of the session.  But I kept making false starts, eating up most of each half-hour, and finally decided just to play.  First play:-- the artists/students facing me on the other side of the model.  The two guys with the earphones listen to their own celestial music and draw like a dream; a real education to view their output.

 Next half-hour:  I drew the model (centre) and then using a tactic I've read about, I drew (on the left side of the sheet) what I imagined her to look like if I were positioned behind her.  Then, with just a few minutes left, I drew (right side of sheet) what I imagined her mirror image would look like.  Not easy!

For the finale, I made one last push to make a presentable piece of work.  And I can confidently say, from discreetly looking over others' shoulders (which everyone else does, too) that I was almost the only one to incorporate that nifty little stool the model is sitting on!

Next week:-- Summer vacation is over.  Back to Basics.  No more flitting around.