Figure Drawing with Flair. . . and Water Guns

January's "Draw!" event at Lowe Mill conjured up thoughts of Classic Movie glamor and Impressionist ballerinas; February's event was a blast of pure dynamism and dramatic creativity. For the first pose, our model (the marvelous Maray Fuego) played guitar and sang soft murmuring notes throughout, dressed in layered clothing, rolled up jeans, and rough boots like a picturesque character beside the railroad tracks. For her next pose, we were faced with a water gun fight casualty in checked tights and a green tunic that evoked the '80's and the space-age-'60's with sparkling wit. Many artists were drawing in the theater of Lowe Mill Sunday afternoon, each with a different style and focus. In my own work [above and below], I wanted to capture the vivacity and boldness of the model, naturally, but I also wanted to make a fairly straight-forward record of her poses for reference, so I kept my drawings free-flowing but somewhat simple. Were I to make a painting based on either sketch, wild colors, daring angles, and fantastical abstractions would surely come into play.