A Guide for Posing for Fine Artists and Art Classes

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I'm a big fan of figure drawing. I go to life drawing sessions when I can and belong to online figure drawing groups. If this is a topic that interests you at all than you need to check out this new read.

This is quite a unique book. At first glance it's obvious it should be read by anyone who is thinking about modeling for artists. It certainly covers every aspect of what a model should know in order to properly function in this specialized business.

But it's even bigger than that. This 141 page paperback guide is written through the eyes of a model. An unusual perspective in comparison with what has been available on the topic. And it contains valuable information for everyone involved with this art process.

Drawing the nude figure has been a subject for artists for centuries. And it will always be so. If you are an art student, an art model, an art instructor, a nude photographer, or a working artist and love life drawing, you will find value in this wonderful resource book.

Learn more about it on the Art Model's Handbook website.

Ann Arbor Women Artists Summer Juried Exhibit

This art exhibit is showing through the month of June at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron, Ypsilanti, MI. Lynda Schumacher had a camera ready to take my pic with my colored pencil piece "Griffith Park in 1944." There is some fabulous work in this exhibit, so if you are in the area, do stop by.

Congrats to the award winners: 1st place went to "Butter and Margarine" by Kristen Letts Kovak, 2nd place to "Catching Air" by Bill Knudstrup, and 3rd place to "Hands over Time" by Joan Miller. The juror, Beth Steinkellner, also choice Honorable Mentions for the artwork of Barbara Melnick Carson, Marie Glysson, Marilyn Marsh, Sandi Miller, Vickie Peterson-Michalak, and Marty Walker.

Chelsea Painters Art Fair

Chelsea PaintersArt Fair
JUNE 6th & 7th, 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On the Grounds of the Chelsea Community Hospital

Help Us Celebrate Our 36th Year!
The Chelsea Painters 36th Annual Art Fair will be held Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, June 7th, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Chelsea Community Hospital. The Hospital is located at 775 S. Main St. (M-52), Chelsea, MI.

The event is free and open to the public and will be held in a comfortable, wooded setting.

A percentage of proceeds will be donated to the Chelsea Center for the Arts (CCA) and to the Chelsea Community Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.

Children's activities sponsored by theChelsea Center for the Arts

The Chelsea Center for the Arts (CCA) will offer hands-on art activities for children during the Art Fair. This event is also free of charge.

For more information, including a map, driving directions and a picture gallery, please visit:
http://www.ChelseaPainters.com/artfair.htm
We Hope to See You There!

CPSA 17th Annual International Exhibition

Learned today that this piece, Crossing the Elements, made it into the Annual International Exhibit of the Colored Pencil Society of America. It runs July 9 - August 29, 2009 at the Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth, Georgia. The Artists' Reception is Saturday, August 1, 2009, 3-5 pm.

This is my second CPSA International exhibit, one more and I will become a signature member. Wonderful goal to work toward! Congratulations to the other six Michigan colored pencil artists who were also accepted;
Bonnie Auten, Sherry Eid, Amanda Keithley, Dean Rogers, Lynda Schumacher and Paul Van Heest.

Feeling Moody

It's been raining here for a couple days now. But today is the tomorrow for the sun to come out. I'm a lousy singer, but I've caught myself singing the tomorrow song a few times in the last day or two.

It's amazing what the thoughts of sunshine, warm weather and spring can do for a soul. It can lighten a person's step, get them focused on goals again, and look toward better times. For me, it washes away many of those moody feelings that come creeping in during the tail end of the cold winter months. At last, spring is here. It's time to grow things and start anew.

It may be too tiny for you see in this moody sky, but there is a bird flying high in the darkness. I put it there as a symbol of the search, the flying through the storm, moving through the darkness. We are always seeking the light.

Have a grand day!

A Trip to the Sisteen Chapel

I love it that technology and the Internet realm can bring such wonderful artistic wonders right into our own homes. I have never been to the Sisteen Chapel. I believe it's a given that there are more have-nots than haves.

But now everyone can see it close-up. This is amazing. You can walk into the middle of the chapel and turn around 360 degrees to take it all in. You can zoom-in to take a closer look at the architecture, sculptures and paintings.

And don't forget to move the arrow all the way down and exam the floor. It contains an interesting feature. Take your Sisteen Chapel trip with this link.

Have a grand day!

Sketching Portraits of Political Guys

Although I mostly work in colored pencil these day, I love to push around drawing sticks of various natures.

This Obama drawing was done with a set of Primsacolor Fine Line Markers. It's a scribble drawing of mostly circles and figure eights to build layers of ink. No hatch lines in this sketch, just curve doodles.

Obama is going to be a fun political figure to sketch, he has a great face.

Just for yucks, I've pulled out a sketchbook from 2004 with a couple sketches I did during that presidential campaign.

These were done with Micron Pens and lots of loose hatch lines. It's a much faster sketching method and definitely looks very much like sketching.

Of course, this is five years later and I don't do everything the same way I did then. I still use cross-hatching for faster sketches, but I do lots more these days with circle type scribbles.

It's most likely a rub-off from working with colored pencil. I do lots and lots of tiny circles with colored pencils to build layers of color. And I've discovered that the technique can work nicely with ink pens as well.

So artists, grab your pens and sketch away. No erasers allowed, just move those writing sticks around.

Have a grand day!