Sketches and old watercolours

On Saturday I dug out my large sketchbook ready for a Life Drawing session organised by  the Facebook Group Hull Art, of which I am a member. I've always wanted to do some life drawing, but all the sessions I've seen advertised in the past have been on evenings when I am rehearsing for plays or musicals - I guess I should perhaps do less, but I like variety in my life and to keep busy! Anyway, I was actually looking forward to this event, but also felt slight trepidation as you do whenever you deal with something new in your life (well, I do, that is). As it turned out, I needn't have worried - despite the fact that the night before I'd had a dream that I'd turned up without any drawing materials so ended up doing the sketching on my hand with a ball point pen!!!!!

It was a surprise to learn that the organiser was also one of the models - I guess I should've really worked it out but I'm sometimes a bit naiive!  The session was untutored, which made it less of an ordeal and much more relaxed for all concerned. There were about 15 people there - we were able to sketch a male model in 3 different  poses during the first hour, then after the break, we concentrated on the female model and spent the remaining time sketching her. I found that the first couple of sketches of mine were really poor - it's been so long since I actually drew anything from life that I'm out of practise! However, by the third one, I was getting into it and produced this drawing of the male model:

After a break for tea/coffee and a catch up with someone I happened to know from years ago, we started the second half of the session with the female model and I was by now much happier about my drawing.

The plan is for these sessions to be a regular thing - if not weekly, then at least every fortnight. I will definitely be attending more in the future - it's such a good discipline to maintain, as you are forced to really look at what you're drawing, rather than what you think you are drawing.  I know I've got a long way to go before I'm accomplished in this area, but practise makes perfect and that's why I'm planning to go to more of these sessions. Hopefully, some of them will be tutored, so I will get valuable input and advice.

I tried to concentrate on the negative shapes whenever possible, as it's harder to draw the line of an arm, say, in relation to the torso and much easier to look at the space in between those two areas in order to get the shape right.

Having got my large sketchbook out, I discovered a couple of old watercolour paintings that I'd done, so thought I'd just share them on here. I really don't know if I will ever do anything with them (such as frame them or turn them into greetings cards) but here they are: