14"x17", charcoal and graphite, Strathmore 100 lb paper.
This, I guess, would be considered an "open studio" work? It's from life in a 3-hour session.
I had wanted to move onto a painting from this, but was unable to do so. Rhonda is no longer close by, so this is as far as it goes. There's no photgraphic record, either as I very rarely photograph nude models. It's a touchy thing, as you can imagine. Sure, I have model release forms and all that, but I'd rather have the model's trust first - then they sign the form.
Since this was a one-session deal, I tried to push the pose and character in my traditional method: I get the model to talk a lot. It relaxes the model and allows their true "look" (i.e. - not stiffly posed) to come forth. Plus, the animation of facial expressions and body language lend a lot of resource material to the piece.
Even though I probably won't work on this any longer for the above reasons, but this is a critique section, I welcome any insights into what I may have overlooked (besides one hand and both feet -- call me lazy
).
Threaded Mode
