Owtin

Charcoal on paper, about 2 by 3 feet.

This was a 30 minute stand. It's pure fun to draw from such a powerful model.

Petra

Charcoal on paper
about 2 by 3 feet.

This was a short stand, about 10 minutes. Petra, the model, was so much fun to sketch. It was hard to choose which drawing would be the work of the week (you can see the other drawings at http://hagenoffindenhaag.blogspot.com/). The entire class was inspired. Portraits are fun.

Peggy

Charcoal on paper
about 2 by 3 feet.

This image is a sketch from a live model at the International Art Club of The Hague. The stand was about a half hour. The challenge here was trying to capture the model's wild tangle of blond hair. You can also see a quick sketch of the model's mouth and nose on the upper left side of the drawing, where I worked out some of the details.

Owtin portrait

Charcoal on paper
about 60 by 100 cm

This is a 25 minute sketch of Owtin, from a portrait class I'm taking at the International Art Club of the Hague. This sketch has the benefit of input from Pien Hazenburg, the docent. What I learned from this portrait class is that the tiniest details matter in a portrait, or the whole thing falls apart. In this portrait, the lessons have gelled and finally everything clicks- at least for this class.

You've got to use gesture (no problem for me) and be bold (again, no problem there) but you've also got to really focus on the exact line placement in every part of the drawing - not just get it close (for me, this has always been the problem with portraits). So, the lesson learned is this: when most everything is blocked in, step back from the drawing, compare by observing closely, and make minute adjustments, and the whole thing just might come together.

I had to choose which of the four portraits to use for the work of the week, but the whole series was fun, and you can see it on my blog (http://hagenoffindenhaag.blogspot.com/)