Figure Drawing!

I'm supposed to be working on an art history paper now, but I've wanted to write this entry for a while. So, procrastination ensues...

This is the first semester I've had a figure drawing class. I'd drawn the figure before, in other drawing classes. But this was the first time I had a class completely dedicated to studying and drawing the figure. In the beginning, it was just another class, just another model to draw. I've never considered myself particularly skilled at drawing the human figure. My proportions are usually a little off somewhere, or a form doesn't fit quite right into another. Always something I can't see until my professor points it out. And it's a constant frustration not being able to see for myself what I'm doing right or wrong. I've always been amazed with the beauty and grace of the human body, in all its various ways of moving and holding a pose. So to not be able to capture that elegance as an artist, to not have enough knowledge or delicacy of hand, would leave me feeling disappointed and doubtful of my own abilities.

This semester, however, I had a breakthrough! At some point I just started getting it. My forms started looking more accurate than they ever had been. My shading improved a great deal. And my proportions, better than they ever have been. I was learning to draw by doing just that...DRAWING! And not just by drawing anything, but by drawing the same thing. The human figure. Over and over. Each and every class. I know I learn things better by repetition, but I'd never really thought about applying it to my art.

I eventually began leaving class feeling very satisfied with what I had accomplished in those three hours. Last week, as I flipped through my drawings from class, I noticed the gradual improvements as I neared the latest ones. That was exciting! Then Doug, my professor, even mentioned to me personally that I'd been improving, that my forms were really fitting together. That was even more exciting! Toward the end, I actually looked forward to figure class. I even got brave on Monday and moved my stuff all the way to the opposite side of the room so I could test out my new "powers" on the most extreme angle I could get, with the figure very foreshortened in a lying-down pose. I very much enjoyed myself.

And it has nothing to do with drawing a "naked person." No, it's so much more than that. For me, I just get stuck in my own little world. Drawing, meditating... just being. Being, with a stick of charcoal in my hand. Being, with my eyes on the beauty of light and shade washing over the human form in all its splendor. Being, with a heart that praises God for such beauty. It was nice to finally find a place to just be.

Today was my last class to draw from the model. :( When I walked in and saw the couch set up, I moved all the way to one side again, thinking I would have another foreshortened pose. But, to my disappointment, the model chose a leaning, seated pose. But I still had fun! Next week we are having our final crit, where we choose our best/favorite piece, while Doug chooses our worst one and puts it up next to the good one. I'm nervous and excited at the same time!

Anyways, I think I'm newly obsessed with drawing the figure. I'm signed up for another figure class next semester, too. Woo hoo!!!