Margot- A Sketch

Margot

pencil sketch
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

Nearing the end of the first day of class I did this pencil portrait of our model, Margot. I didn't have time to finish or refine it, but the point was really to be practicing and getting the feel of drawing again. The cobwebs are slow to come off after 11 years!

On a completely different note... it is so humid here! What is up? I am in the middle of the prairies with no significant large body of water anywhere to be found and yet the air honestly feels like the tropics. My skin is lovin' it, my curls/frizz... not so much!

Whisper Goodbye

Whisper Goodbye

6 x 6"

oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2011
sold

Another Adirondack chair plein air painting from the second evening at the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus. Drawing all day, painting at night... doesn't get much better.

Quiet Reflection

Quiet Reflection

6 x 6"

oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

sold

I did this little plein air painting after supper on the first night at Emma Lake. Again I went down to the beach to paint. The sky was beautiful as the sun was going down. It was calm and peaceful and I could feel myself moving to that place of quiet reflection.

Sitting Pose

Sitting Pose

graphite on paper
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

The model we had for the drawing class was a pro. Her gesture poses for the warm-ups were excellent and her longer poses were well thought out and interesting. She could hold a pose like no other (even with the mosquitoes!)... until this one. Bless her heart, she actually fell asleep! She kept sinking lower and lower until her chest was more caved in and the arm propped on the back of the chair was at a very different angle than when we began. 

I like areas of this one; I like her right leg and the overall gesture of her seated position. I think you get a real sense of the way her body weight is distributed in this pose. However, I do feel a bit bad about the man-hand I gave her! She really did have the most graceful and beautiful hands, but you would never know it by the big honkin' mitt I put on her! It's like a paw!!!

Standing Pose

standing pose

vine charcoal 
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

This is possibly my favorite drawing from my class at Emma Lake. It is obviously not finished, and something is not quite right from the belly button up, but I don't care! How's that!? I still feel really happy with how this one went. I love it from the belly button down. I wish I could remember what the time limit was, but I don't. Thirty minutes comes to mind.

 Cabin #11

a little piece of heaven

Did I mention how much I loved my little cabin? I had it all to myself and although I wouldn't want to be away from my family permanently, it was a glorious respite from never ending Lego pieces, Bey Blades and Pokemon card debris!!!

More Sketches

more sketches done with new info
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

Here are a few more sketches from my drawing class. With this exercise the instructor, Wes Schafer, suggested that we use line to help describe the contours of the body as opposed to relying solely on value. This was a new concept again and I had trouble getting the hang of it... it is way too easy to slip into my usual way of doing things. I'm quite happy with the drawing on the top left.

© Nicki Ault, 2011 

This is a detail of that drawing to show the lines used to suggest the roundness of the leg and arm and the gentle curve of the belly.

Alone With The Sky

Alone With The Sky

6 x 6"

oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2011
sold   

After I settled in to my sweet little cabin at the Kenderdine Campus last week I enjoyed an Adirondack chair and some plein air painting down at the beach. Really I couldn't wait to get going, the sounds and smells of the outdoors were calling me and my brush! I had returned to the place where I could let my breath out, step away from it all and feel what it is like to just be me.

 in the distance you can see the chair 

where I sat to paint this sky
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

I watched the sky. I painted it. And I felt alone, but in a good way.

I'm Rusty

 

quick studies
© Nicki Ault, 2011  

One of the exercises we did on the first day of class (after gesture studies to loosen up) was draw poses focusing on shapes and masses, not so much on line. This was a stretch for me because normally I would instinctively begin drawing the outline and then shade afterward. The top two are ten minute studies, one in pencil the other in vine charcoal, and the bottom one was a 15 minute study in vine charcoal. At this point I am definitely feeling rusty and like there are cobwebs blowing around in my head!

Gesture at Emma

© Nicki Ault, 2011 

I am back from the Kenderdine Campus and wish the drawing class I took was longer! It was all day Friday and Saturday with a bit of a recap on Sunday morning. I was extremely rusty, but loosened up a bit by the second day. If I hope to improve I am going to have to make more of an effort to draw more than a few times a decade. Anyway, I will share some of my work with you despite the fact that I am not overly thrilled or fired up about it. Above is a fast gesture drawing and I am happy with the marks; I even like the look of the adjustments I made (i.e. changed the position of the right arm and dropped the right foot down). The instructor, Wes Schafer, was really good and offered a different spin on things. It was his first time teaching and he did a great job. I'd like to learn more from him someday.

My little cabin

Home Away From Home

To me this campus is magical... when I am there I feel the history, I love the setting, I feel like I am part of nature in a really grounded way, I learn and grow and I have art talks that make me happy, happy, happy.

Girl Unfinished #2

Girl #2 (unfinished)

pencil on paper

© Nicki Ault, 1999

Same model as the previous post, but different day. I like this one more. The last one has a stiffness to it and I prefer how I can capture the detail with pencil. Both would have been done in roughly two hours... clearly not enough time to get the job done!

I just took a break from packing and hope to be on the road in about two hours. I always get this wave of panic and sadness when I leave my boys, but once I am on the open road with my tunes cranked I know I will begin to relax. When I was at a class at Emma Lake last year a few of us were sitting around at the end of the day and one of the ladies asked why each of us had come and why some liked it so much they had returned. "Is it the love!?" she asked. Everyone had varying responses from it being on their "bucket list", to wanting to learn from the instructor. My response was that it is the only place I have found where I can just be "Me".