Sketch Group

I have found a good life drawing class at the McLean Community Center, McLean Virginia, every Tuesday from 7 - 9:30. It's a good idea for any artist to spend some time each day practicing.

In the nude sketch shown here, there is nothing particularly interesting from a "final painting" viewpoint. The pose is awkward, the model a bit past her prime. But the lighting — ah, the darks and lights. Objects can be rendered in many ways. We learn to draw, often, using a line as the guide to the edge of an object, but the edge is defined (or lost) by differences in tone or contrast. And the objects flow from one to another, and into the surrounding space. Using shading to define the edges and their relation to other spaces gives you a better appreciation of the composition. Now, that is not to say that line should be abandoned. Not at all. Just another way of looking.