Our Last Month’s Model

This pastel drawing ‘Model Session – 18‑04‑26 – 1’ reintroduces our model from last month. We were so enthusiastic last time that we decided to contract her once more. Luckily for us, she shared the same enthusiasm. Equally important, to most visitors of this month’s session she was new. This was going to be a lovely new session and, upon my word, it turned out to be.

In for Something New

Last session I used Hahnemühle Dürer Ingres‑Bütten Night Blue paper. This time I was in for something different. Years ago I used to do many life drawing sessions in colored pastels. The basic idea became as follows: just have one base color and do a rough sketch with a rough edge. Something dark, something gloomy for a change. For no particular reason I chose green. My Canson Mi‑Teintes Touch black paper was a perfect match. A bit of a poor man’s choice because I would have loved to use their indigo variety. However, the production of that one got cancelled a few years back. Canson, if you read this: put it back in your assortment.

Raw Power

Not the first time though such a disadvantage turned into a goldmine unexpectedly. Such is life for an artist like me. It turned out that aforementioned gloom triggered me to capture her features without much effort. Back home, I put it on the easel though, ready to have another go at it, just to finish it. Then I saw I didn’t need to. Why ruin something that, in its core, already was very good. The result I had after one hour is a bit ‘raw’, including some imperfections. Wasn’t that what I wanted in the first place. So they remained because they carried the moment’s energy. The drawing needed to feel alive rather than polished. Surprisingly, she felt the same because the model bought it from me. Lucky me!

Pastel drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper (47 x 63 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

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