Artist Pose

Sometimes the model doesn't show!  I think every group runs into this now and then.  Fortunately artists, as a rule, are a generous group.  We had the opportunity to draw one of our fellow artists, Kathy. 
Here are a couple of drawings:

                                                  left by Nancy Everett, right by Nancy Blum

Style

Finally posting some artwork from the Thursday Group.  Some of the members have been painting/drawing together for several years.  It's fun to watch the progress and directions people take..  Do people who draw together end up drawing like each other?  Or do people stay with a group where they share some similarities?
I think the more people draw, the more they become "themselves" and can feel free to express their own style.

Here is some work by some of the members -- with their own characteristic style:

 drawings by Nancy Blum

 paintings by Nancy Blum

by Maxine  Hess

 by Elizabeth Stallings

by Elisha Fields

by Susan Proctor

 by Joan Quillen

Why Draw?

Well, I've been quite late in posting. We have had some great models since the last pictures: Stephanie, Irene,  Annie, Derreck , Lauren, Ann, Tina, and Emerald.  Some of these tried modeling for the first time and others are well known among Atlanta artists and by the paintings they have inspired (some in collections throughout the country).

We've had a good turnout to the group in the last several weeks.  It's always interesting for me to watch each artist work.  Styles are so different and the artwork seems to say as much -- or more about the artist than the model.  What brings people to try to capture the human form and spirit is quite fascinating to me, and I hope some people will comment about what continues to lead them to draw and paint the figure.

I  took a trip to Taos and Sante Fe during this time.  Besides the fabulous art and wonderful landscapes, people and food, I was inspired by a book by Paul Brunton.  He was not writing about art, but wrote of "the quietness (that) uncovers the essential being"...  "The way (the) body moves, works, walks, behaves, reveals something of the inner man, the ego.  But non-movement, sitting quite still, can reveal even more -- the being behind the ego."

This, to me, is the excitement of a long pose.  It certainly doesn't always happen, but there is the potential for connecting with another and capturing something important of them or oneself.  Another Brunton quote: "What are these symbols but attempts to make use of art for man's loftiest purposes - the transformation of his consciousness?"