I had never met last night’s model, Emily, before, but I loved her from the start — her gestures were so elegant and playful.
Two gestures (1-2 minutes each)
Since we had so much fun with Signe and her clothes last week, Signe had suggested to Emily that she also bring clothes to pose with. This made me very happy. I love being able to add extra color to the sketches.
Green chair, red shoes (20 minutes)
I notice that the more figure painting I do, the more I improve organically. It’s just a matter of training the eye; after a while, I start to notice things I wouldn’t have been sharp enough to notice a few weeks ago. Like the grey shadows on the white shirt. They’re not very precise shadows, but I’m not sure I would have thought to put them in if I’d been painting this outfit a month ago.
What's out there (25 minutes)
To see all eight images from the evening, start here.
Do you remember a while back, when I mentioned I wanted to start a new painting project that would be about body image and self-presentation? These recent sketches of Emily, and the ones last week of Signe, are approaching the level of detail and emotion I want for that project. They’re still small, about 17″ x 14″ — what I wanted for the project was life-size, but I’m thinking that might not be possible with watercolor — but they are giving me great hope that I’ll be able to start the project sooner than I anticipated. I’ll tell you more about it when I get closer to launch!
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
Love these new paintings! And that you’re noticing those wonderful shadows. I hope you are able to start that project soon. It sounds great!
Thank you, Ré! I hope to start the project soon too, if for no other reason than that I want to tell everyone about it. 😉 I feel superstitious about explaining it before I get it underway.
I absolutely LOVE your 1-2 minute gesture drawings. I have to be honest, I like them better than the long session ones 🙂 (even though I also really like “What’s out there”). The gesture ones feel more free to me. Having said that, there is very much a playful element to these watercolors, and you’re doing GREAT!!!
Thank you so much, Alison! Yes, it’s easier to make the gesture drawings look so energetic when they have to be done so quickly… but also, the models I’ve painted lately have done just amazing gesture poses, so they really inspire me. It’s so interesting trying to translate motion into a still image. 🙂
love the colors and shadows in the sitting one!
Thank you, Tamara! I love the colors too — didn’t even really think about it until after, and then I noticed the red and green and got all excited about them. 😉
[…] drawings. When I walked in I was happy to see the model, whom I have drawn before and always liked. I couldn’t remember her name at first but about six poses into a series of twenty 1-minute […]