Some of the "Taheerah" Paintings and Drawings

For a change, I thought I would post a group of drawings and paintings done over the last couple of  years.  The last two drawings, a pastel of a reclining woman and a graphite drawing of gestures, have not been posted elsewhere on this blog.

These all have the same model, Taheerah.  She is a working artist, mainly doing animation.

She is one of my favorite models.  Even though none of these works are "likenesses," you may recognize her distinctive regal confidence in other drawings and paintings I have posted within the last couple of years.

The top drawing, a pastel, is the first drawing I did with Taheerah as model, and it is still a favorite of mine. 

For the curious, here's a list of the rest of my posts featuring Taheerah as model:  March 1, 2012; June 11, 2011; January 24, 2011; December 2, 2010; November 23, 2010; and September 7, 2010.

My drawing of Taheerah titled "Floating Woman" was also used, with my permission, to illustrate this blog essay by Margaret Diehl.

NATURE WATCH:

Tacodeli goes to the dog.

UPDATE . . . 

on Daniela Rossell and her book of photographs, Ricas y Famosas: 

I now have a copy of  Ricas y Famosas.  The photos are gorgeous, and the context of the work is much clearer.

The photos, taken together, are beautiful and strange.  They also tell a bit about wealth in Mexico; how the very very rich live. Rossell is a member of this privileged group.  Like photos of extreme poverty, these photos make you aware of extraordinary disparities in society.

She started this series of photos with a core of close family and friends and expanded outward from there.  The subjects decided how and where and with what objects they would be photographed.  They are mostly women.  They are mostly rich, though some are not (several are servants of the very rich).  They are all fascinating.

Reclining Figure; Gestures 1; Gestures 2

These are drawn from life, on 18" x 24" paper.

The first drawing is in charcoal.  The others are in graphite.  Gestures 2 includes a couple of quick pencil sketches of longer poses.

Seated Woman In Pink; Seated Woman In Blue; Reclining Figure In Ocher; Standing Figure In Gold; Reclining Figure In Pencil

 Drawn this morning, from life.

The colored pieces are oil pastel on crinkled brown paper (paper is handmade, but not by me).

The drawing is graphite on white drawing paper.

This model was so relaxed in her body, she continued to pose--in reclining poses--during breaks.  A pleasure to draw.

Tuesday's drawings

These are drawings from this past Tuesday, the last uninstructed modeling workshop of the quarter at Art Center. Once again, these were poses in the 5 to 15 minute range. The drawings are on 18"x24" paper, each figure occupying about a quarter of that space. The first two images are of graphite drawings; the last three images are of ink drawings.

I am glad I took this summer to focus on quick drawings from life. In the fall, I want to focus on longer poses from life, the so-called painting poses, where the model returns to the same pose throughout the entire modeling session.