Study of Raven

Study of Raven, 2010, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

This grisaille of Raven was accomplished in two days, about 5 hours total. As a part time student at the Art Students League I don't get the luxury of working from the model for long periods of time as the others artists do. Knowing that I only had two sessions to work from, I had to move fast, and had to nail it in the first shot. I am very happy with this study, although working fast made me neglect some important things in the figure, like more curves which can show the movement of the body even when standing still. Perhaps the hardest part in this study was getting the positioning and weight of the legs. On the second day I forced myself to work more on them, especially the feet, since I had managed to ignore them completely. Dan Thompson came around and gave me some instruction, apparently my neglect with Raven's legs was apparent, and so Dan drew a little sketch of the construction of the leg next to my figure. I was planning on painting it out since what he was showing me was recorded in my brain, once I get taught something it stays up there. Tonight I decided that I would leave his sketch, I might learn more from it than I think. Next week another pose, another model and another grisaille.