I had been trying to figure out how to make better drawing reference photos for a while. One of the things I wanted to attempt was to take some shots using the very early morning sun to capture the pronounced shadows that the angle of the sun produces first thing in the morning. Of course a disadvantage is that the mosquitos also like early mornings, but I survived :-). I was pleased with the result of the early morning photo session and anxiously shared many of the resulting photos with the cyberspace-based drawing group that I am a part of. Interest was good and the comments were very positive, and I couldn't have been happier about that. This was the very first drawing created from that series of photos. I was extremely pleased to see it and see how nicely it was done.
For me, the emotion behind this drawing is so intense that it's difficult for me to write about it. It was inspired by a part of a poem that I wrote - and the only poem I have ever written. The drawing is called "Reaching for Heaven" and the long version of title is "beautiful like the rocks, the trees, the deer, the birds, the dirt, the grass, and the sky"
This is the specific part of my poem that inspired this drawing: "Wait, I see, it's clear now. It is a lie, the world is wrong. I am o.k. I am alive. How I love being alive. I am naked, alone, and helpless. But, wait I'm not alone. I feel the air on my skin. I feel the wonder of the warming sun on every square inch head to toe. I feel the love all around me from a higher source. I am not here by chance, indeed I am loved. I am part of a plan. I am beautiful like the rocks, the trees, the deer, the birds, the dirt, the grass, and the sky. I am a son of God himself. How could I have missed it? I am a new person. I must tell the world. How could they have missed it? Surely they can see too."
At one point I planned to edit and create a more complete version of the poem, but I've decided that it is whatever it is ever going to be. It was written at a particular moment and with a particular feeling and to try to recapture that and somehow go from there just wouldn't really work out. So, click here to see the complete poem. I am the model for both figures in Crystal's drawing.
One day Crystal decided to do a series of portraits. To my very pleasant surprise she included a portrait of me among those that she decided to do. When I saw the drawing I couldn't help but notice how much it seemed to make me look like my mother. I shared that with Crystal, and for her reference shared with her a photo of my mother.
I also shared with Crystal that my mother had passed away just the year prior. She responded to my comments and my sharing of my photo of my mother with the following drawing she titled "Mom and I". I'm pretty sure I would have been aware if my mother had been the subject of a drawing while she was alive, and so far as I know she was not. I'm not even going to attempt any more words for this one, there's no way that I could.
I mentioned to the cyberspace-based figure drawing group that I participate with that I play the piano. For clarity, I do not play it well, but I play it. Crystal almost immediately responded to this, suggesting a pose playing a piano. I gladly offered the pose, and in seemingly almost no time she created the following remarkably complex drawing.
In very creative fashion, Crystal created a single drawing of four different models from the cyberspace-based figure drawing group that we participate with. I greatly enjoyed the theme and the way that Crystal brought four different models and poses together in a way that they weren't necesarily intended to be and made it look like it had been planned that way all along. Crystal called the drawing "models at rest". This drawing is included here not only by permission of Crystal, the artist, but also the other three models that are included in it.
This drawing was inspired by Crystal's previous drawing, "models at rest" and the resulting creation of a group assignment doing something similar with multiple models. I was one of the four potential models involved. To me it seemed like an extremely difficult assignment and I was fascinated to watch as each artist who participated overcame the challenges and created a drawing, each in a different way. Once again Crystal included 4 models (and all four) in a very creative setting - a tree :-).
What I find most fascinating in this drawing is the sense of emotion that it has. This drawing is from a series of poses that were a little "dark" (as in relatively low camera lighting), but there's a "dark" or a "tension" perhaps almost a "pain" feel to this drawing. It's incredibly expressive. Some have suggested I can write words sometimes, but writing about emotion my words often fail me. To some extent, this is one of those times, because there's is so much emotion and expression in this drawing - at least that is what I see and feel. On the more technical side, I thought with everything all 'folded up' like that this pose would be too difficult to draw, and figured nobody would be so brave. So, I must say, I'm impressed at Crystal's choice of reference material, and success in drawing it.
I was, of course, quite pleased when it was announced that a group project would be done from one of a very large series of poses that I had been working on that I called "Props" - because I used sticks, boxes, tables, etc., to help with the pose. I also created a black background, giving a particular feel to many of the photos. The project was to use this effect and draw on a dark background, working from light to dark, to develop the drawing, somewhat like a a negative. I really like the effect that the lighting and this approach gives this drawing.
It was quite a treat when Crystal shared with me her redrawing of the very first drawing she did, both of me personally as a model, and with the cyberspace-based figure drawing group that we both participate with. The drawings were done just a little over a year apart, and what a year it was. It makes me realize and appreciate the friendship that Crystal has offered me and the opportunity that has been mine to watch that friendship grow and develop over a year's time. As you can see, I've included the first, year-old, drawing as well as the revised one. It think it tells a story all by itself. Thanks Crystal both for the revised drawing and for the year of friendship.
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