Drawing Circus: Petty and Leyendecker

On Tuesday night I went along to Jake Spicer's regular Draw session at the Old Market in Brighton.
Emma Sandham-King chose the theme this time which was the advertising and pin-up work of George Petty and J C Leyendeker (who is one of my all time faves). It was quieter than usual which meant that you could get a seat and I spent most of an enjoyable evening sitting next to my mate and fellow cartoonist, the fabulously talented Geo Parkin. We were mainly sketching Beth, a new model to me, who has the longest legs since I last looked at mine in a funny mirror at the fair. Here are my best
attempts at capturing Beth along with a couple of lovely Emma.

A Brace of Beauties!

I'm off back to my small flat in Palma tomorrow so I've been doing as much life drawing as I can in the knowledge that despite its plethora of galleries there are bugger all life drawings classes in Palma.
So for two days running I drew two of my favourite models- Laura the Fabulous Finn and the Divine Naomi! I'll miss it when I'm out there but weather should be nice!

The Drawing Circus- Matisse

I went along last night to the Drawing Circus which is a monthly event held very near where I live. I was only going to stay for an hour or so of the 4 hour session but it was so good and inspiring that I stayed 'til the end. The theme was Matisse and the bar area at The Old Market was colourfully decorated with large cut-out shapes taken from Matisse's famous works. We had four beautiful models-
Frankie, Laura B, Laura N and Clementine who was painted entirely blue which contrasted wonderfully with her curly red hair. And for the final tableau they were joined by the impressive and gorgeous Belle who organised the whole thing. It was great fun and it was a pleasant surprise to see old friend and marvelous puppeteer- Daisy there with her lovely friend Sofia. A great evening's drawing!
Here are my best efforts, some of which I've tickled up in Photoshop.

Naomi, Mimi and Me

My very talented and lovely niece came to Brighton for a couple of days. It was her first visit since she was six (now nineteen) and she loved the place. She's an excellent oil painter (better than I'll ever be) and is starting at Glasgow College of Art in September. I'm sure she'll go far! I arranged a private session with the wonderful Naomi so that Mimi and i could have a chance of drawing together. It was great fun and we all got on swimmingly. Here are my efforts. Mimi will post hers up on her own blog I expect.

Escaping the Outline!

Like my fellow cartoonist and all round good egg- Geo Parkin, I have recently become enamoured with the joys of watercolour. It's such a happy medium! Prone to the surprising happy accident. I love it. Normally I would draw the subject in outline and use the watercolour to freely colour it up but last night I decided to get out of my comfort zone and paint the model ( the excellent KIARA) without any guidelines. Just watercolour paint straight onto the paper. Below are  the mixed results of this nerve racking but enjoyable experiment before I scurried back to my comfort zone like a scalded cat and took up the outline again.
Well you've got to challenge yourself occasionally incha?

Red Naomi!

As an artist when you find a model that ticks all of your boxes you must take advantage of her availability while you can. So consequently, I've been doing a lot of drawing of the fabulous Naomi Wood lately and here are my most recent efforts from two sessions over the last week. One of the poses from where I was sitting looked like she could have been wielding a sword so I added one and she instantly because Red Sonja from the Robert E Howard Conan books. So I'm thinking of doing some more in this vein with her if she can fit me in to her busy schedule.

Naomi encore!

Naomi Wood and I had another drawing session on Thursday night. I'm trying to draw her as much as I can before I return to Majorca in a couple of weeks. She's a great model and a great girl too. I love drawing her and I hope it shows in the work.

Clementine

Last night at SCAC's Tuesday night life drawing session our model was the beautiful French girl Clementine.
This is the second time I've drawn her in a week as she was one of the two models in the Egon Schiele inspired session for the Brighton Illustators Group.
I was working larger than I normally do and being very splashy with the watercolours hoping for the happy accident that watercolours can give you.
Afterwards a few of us repaired to the local hostilery for copious quaffage and the discussion of wide and varied topics as usual. Much fun!
Here are the best attempts.

Naomi Noir

I've been trying to emulated the great film noir images from crime novel covers of the 40s and 50s with the help of my new muse the gorgeous redhead Naomi. My intention is to get enough paintings together for an exhibition glorifying the redhead. It's early days yet as acrylic isn't my usual medium but
Naomi is inspiring me to keep trying. Here are my latest efforts.

Doing a Double

Over the last two nights I've attended The Sussex County Arts Club for two life drawing sessions.
The first one was Bill Donohoe's excellent Tuesday night session where the assembled scribblers tried to capture the fabulous curves and huge eyes of Michaela whilst groovin' on down to some chilled vibes, man.
Then last night Jo Moore on behalf of the Brighton Illustrators Group hosted a session inspired by the work of Egon Schiele with models Laura Kate O'Rourke and Clementine (I'm sorry Clem but I don't know your surname) for 3 long poses in suitable Schiele-esque clobber and finally in a nude tableau.
It was a great and inspiring session and here are my best efforts from both nights.

Kate Shields

I'm trying to get in as much life drawing as I can in Brighton before returning to Mallorca where there is only one class and it isn't very good. So I attended Bill's always excellent session at The Sussex County Arts Club last night where our model was the immensely talented Kate Shields sporting a snazzy new haircut which was great to draw. Here are my best ones. Afterwards some of us repaired to the local Wetherspoons for some cheap quaffage and arty-farty chat! Much funnings!

Zoe

Our model for the Tuesday night session at SCAC was Zoe who is a great model. We've drawn her a lot in the past but not for a while and it was great to see her back (and her front - sorry, couldn't resist it.) It was a slightly less crowded session this week as there was a free event with 4 models on at The Old Market too. We are sooooo spoilt in Brighton for life drawing!

Naomi yet again!

I went along to Jeremy Radvan's very informative anatomy class at SCAC last night where Jezza told us all about the muscles from the pelvis to the knee. Now I know what the sartorial muscle is for! Our model to illustrate the relevant parts of the body was the exquisitely lovely Naomi. Here are my efforts.

The Return of the Redhead

I was priveleged enough to get Naomi the fabulous new (to me!) model round for a modelling session at Wick Hall.
I would love to do some mock pulp crime novels with her as she's exactly right for a femme fatale despite being a really sweet girl. In the meantime, here are my sketches from a few days ago.

Laura the Fabulous Finn

Last night at The Sussex County Arts Club our model was Laura the fabulous Finn. I saw her a couple of nights ago playing her double bass in a local bar and belting out her own excellent songs. She's a talented lass and a great model too. One of the group's favourites. Here are my best six of the night.

Naomi!!!

As there is a different model every week at SCAC (we are sooo spoiled in Brighton for life drawing!)
sometimes you get a very pleasant surprise. Such was the case last night when Naomi, who has been modelling for a while in Brighton, did her first session at Bill Donohoe's class.
Not only does she have a perfect figure and a lovely face AND a shock of magnificent red hair BUT she's a fantastic model who can hold a difficult pose as though she's made of marble. All the regulars were impressed and Jeremy Radvan immediately booked her for one of his classes.
She's like a cross between a Mucha maiden and a femme fatale. I'd love to work on a project with her. We'll see! Anyway, enough blather from me. Here are my best attempts at capturing her loveliness.

The Drawing Circus

After spending Christmas and New Year in Palma I was looking forward to some life drawing back in Brighton and last night was another of Jake Spicer's monthly events called The Drawing Circus. We had three models dressed in harlequin and clown costumes and it was packed with enthusiastic scribblers including my good mates Mark Xavier Harrison and Geo Parkin. Also there was the extremely talented graphic novelist Hannah Berry and Jan Irvine among many others. Our superb models were Laura Kate O'Rourke, Michaela Meadows and Felix. It was a great session after which Geo, Mark and I decamped to the Conquerer to plan our conquest of the world.
Look out world! Here some some old gits!

Tonina in Palma

After a long lay-off from attending life drawing sessions in Palma my pal, Alan and I took ourselves off to the vaults under the cathedral for a 2 hour (no break) attempt at capturing the lovely, curvaceous Tonina who is the new regular model. She is also a quite staggeringly good illustrator who is working on a large political drawing with her partner which is so finely detailed and complex that it makes my
busy drawings (see my Christmas card) look simplistic. Anyway, here are my best ones.