Figure Drawing Workshop

Today was the last day of my two-week, figure drawing workshop at the Florence Academy of Art in Jersey City.
Day one of the workshop was a demonstration by the instructor. Days two and three were practice, and days 4-10 were devoted to one drawing of a single pose. The following photos document the progress of this drawing day by day.

The purpose of the workshop was to teach academic figure drawing, and the goal was not so much to have a finished drawing at the end (and my drawing is not finished) as it was to learn the particular drawing method the Florence Academy teaches which is designed to form an artists observational and compositional skills. The standard was accuracy, and the workshop did not touch matters of expression at all. I think this experience is analogous to learning scales for a musician.
And yet, it was not a dry experience. Not at all. The three hours passed quickly each day. The process itself of observation, mark making, and observing again is both meditative and mentally taxing. Honestly, I found it, at times, exhilarating – to look and look at the same curve of a particular part of the body day after day and by simply following a methodical (but not formulaic) process, to experience that form emerge on paper is pretty sweet. You kind of get hooked by it.
So, now, on to figure painting. That will be my workshop for the next two weeks.

As always:
Purchase prints of my work at:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/2-bethany-lee.html

My Instagram handle is bethanyleefineart.

Find my artist page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/bethany.lee.180

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And, finally, look for me on the streets of NY, making plein air paintings!