Our Plein Air group from the Fall of 2024 decided to go indoors for Nov-April, and practice drawing or painting people from life. In the absence of a paid model (we’d still like one!), we have been taking turns to portray each other.

We sit for each other for 35 minutes each, thus my sketches above were done in 35 minutes. We usually achieve 3 models in our 2.5 hour time. It’s a great opportunity to experiment; I’ve tried different surfaces, different ground colors, different paint color combinations, and different application methods.

I moved from brush to palette knife, mainly because the knife is quicker and cleaner. It works OK for getting down the basic values and colors, but I prefer the brushes overall.

We started the first couple of weeks with an immobile, silent model, but it was so quiet that we all felt sleepy! We decided to have the model free to talk, and move slightly—it became much more interesting and enjoyable for all of us!

From April onwards we have been alternating indoor work like this and plein air work around the town. I appreciate having a group of artist who show up to paint and draw together.