Live Model Study

This was a fun exercise. A five minute pose with a live model. I did it standing up and being quite free with the paint. I took the first few seconds to just view the model and she seemed to be filling up the space in a very confident manner. I did some light sketching and then went at it. What I really like is that I caught that confidence of the pose. After finishing this I really appreciated the fact that the background was lighter than the figure so the attention goes to her. The study I did just before this had the background with a stronger value than the figure and it wasn't nearly as successful. Another fact that I was strongly reminded of during this session with a live model is that the first few (or even quite a few) efforts are really just warm ups and for me it's only later on in the session that the images start to look like the model. It's good to know this so I can take the pressure off the first efforts and just do it and enjoy it because those first efforts are important to get to the final product. Live model studies are something I do occasionally but always coming away from thinking how valuable they are.