Getting down to work (Click to enlarge photo - 59KB)

The ingredients: music, models, a handful of Japanese and the good stuff...

PAINT!

A slight jitter, a flutter of the heart... these are the usual feelings I experience before a lesson. I'm introducing paint today. In the previous lessons I've already covered the basics of proportions, hands, feelings, colours and line... but only with pastels and pencils.

Review and reflection (Click to enlarge photo - 59KB)

Paint is really where all the fun begins. With a brushstoke you make the fatal line that cannot be erazed... there is the translucense of watercolour and the matt uncompromisable gouache. And once you dare this you can start mixing everything.

mix mix mix.

Earlier today I had realised, to my great despair and rising panic, that my trusted models handpicked from the Yamasa Institute's diverse student body... had suddenly fled the country. One, by one... (ie they graduated).

IT WAS TIME TO PANIC!

Sketching (Click to enlarge photo - 59KB)

I had to find new models and quick. So, I went to Yamasa's student village (the largest of the 4 student residences), placed myself strategically by one of the entrances and waited in ambush... until three quite wonderful specimens came into view. I approached my prey slowly...(what would I have done if they had run away!) and to my great relief, the 3 students said yes! I was so lucky that there wasn't an exam or essay due the following day...

So, equipped with the pretty, the enduring, the bold and the brash, the lesson was about to begin.

hajimemashoo, strike a pose, there's really nothing to it.

Erm...what do I do now? (Click to enlarge photo - 59KB)

I decided to start with several 1 minute poses using paint, so they would get used to using the new medium as well as building up the speed. The idea being that by slowly making longer poses the speed of drawing and observation of detail would reach a certain momentum as well as creating more movement in the drawing.

In addition it allows for exploring a number of different ideas (without having to commit to them). Like a brainstorm for the longer poses at the end of the lesson. I used two models at the same time so that everyone would get an interesting pose/a glimpse of a face. Added a flower for fun and focus of detail.

For more photos... please browse through MY PHOTOGALLERY!!!!!!!!