Life drawing Meet-up: Week 2

Charcoal on newsprint, 15 minute pose

At Week 2 of my Life-drawing Meet-up, there was some discussion among the "regulars" of a book called, The Undressed Art: Why We Draw by Peter Steinhart. It sounds fascinating to me, especially after I came home and read this 2004 NY Times review. I reserved the book at the library and will keep you posted as I read it. 

What does compel us to draw, especially in today's digital world?

For me, it just feels like pure creativity, whether or not the end product is ever seen by another set of eyes. Drawing is, at the very least, wonderfully distracting and escapist, and there are days when it feels downright healing. 

Drawing is usually a solo, intimate activity, so it's interesting to me when a group draws together. In this group, we chat during breaks, but once the pose starts, all you hear is the scraping of charcoal and pencils on paper (what a great sound!) and the background music. Some people retreat to their earphones and iPods, others—like me—just stay unplugged, but we're all completely engrossed in drawing.

Our model was, once again, very good. I love that she wasn't the body type that is heralded in the media as being ideal; she had ample hips (much more fun to draw than thin ones, frankly) with a smaller torso. One of the other artists mentioned that she was reminiscent of someone in a work by Ingres (one of my favorite artists) which was so true! My proportions are a bit off, but here is the long pose for the day. Unlike last week, I bravely attempted drawing the model's face this time ...well, kinda sorta:

Charcoal and graphite on newsprint, 60 minute pose

So, tell me, why do you draw?