A Standing Pose

This pastel drawing ‘Model Session – 20-01-26 – 1’ shows the torso of our monthly model. Drawn during a life model session. It was lovely to have her over to pose for us once more. The last time she did was in June 2025. We had her sit in 2 consecutive sessions then. Our group thought it would be fun to have her strike a standing pose. However, such a pose can appear to be a bit boring from a compositionary point of view. That’s why she put her hand of her left arm over her right shoulder. The result is a bold and striking pose she could maintain for an hour. Not at one stretch though. Sometimes great models like to stretch out too. That was after I already captured her features though. Such are the benefits of being able to capture someone by drawing quickly.

Some Corrections

Since her upper body already promised a great composition I deciced to only render it in pastel and charcoal. No real problems capturing her features until I got back home.  Something was missing or perhaps a bit ‘off’. The belly was a bit too prominent so I trimmed it a bit. Next to this, I focused on details in her hair and the overall impression of light and darkness. The lower part I kept rather basic, letting the paper shimmer through.

Fabriano Tiziano

It’s the second time I was using this Fabriano Tiziano paper. The first time was for ‘Neo Deco – 08-08-24’, testing it out. A bit similar to Canson Mi-Teintes I must say and I like the dark blue hue as well. It’s great sketching paper, fit for correcting during life sessions. Pastel Mat can be a bit of a drag and I primarily tend to use it in my studio. It hardly allows corrections by erasing but holds on to more pigments.

Pastel drawing on Fabriano Tiziano Blue paper (65 x 50 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers