Nina Johansson

Since the hyacinth (see previous posts) is looking pretty much the same today as yesterday, I´m posting this instead; this is the last life drawing of 2010. The sessions are over for now.

15 x 21 cm, pencil on cartridge paper.

I didn´t stop drawing just because I didn´t post much here lately. But it got really cold here, so the Slussen series is on hiatus for a while. Instead I´ve been working on some Xmas cards and some drawn brooches for a Christmas market coming up soon. Will post them too, in time.

I have been to some life drawing sessions too. These are some five- and two minute sketches from November. They are larger than my scanner, and won´t lay flat when I scan them, hence the crappy image quality – sorry about that. If there had been some daylight when I come home from work, I would have photographed them instead, but winter is upon us…

Pencil sketches on A3 cartridge paper.

I went to another life drawing session last night.  My drawing pad is way too big to fit in the scanner, but I threw it in there anyway and made a somewhat sloppy cut-and-paste Photoshop montage of all the drawings I made during the two hour session. The image is quite big, so have patience if you click it to view a bigger version.

Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink on several sheets of A3 (30 x 42 cm) cartridge paper.

The life drawing sessions I often go to started again yesterday, after a holiday hiatus. They take place in a little 1930´s cinema theater near where I live, and even though it´s not perfect to sit in a cinema chair to draw (I usually stand up), and the lighting is less than great, it´s never crowded and the atmosphere is always nice.

This is a ten minute pose that I think turned out ok. I used watersoluble pencil and a waterbrush, which worked really well to get a little bit of shading in a short time.

About 24 x 10 cm, watersoluble pencil and waterbrush on cartridge paper.

A funny thing happened Monday evening. I went to a life drawing session again (lots of nudes here lately!) but Lo and behold! – I forgot to bring paper! Luckily, my friend Lisa was there and  she gave me some papers from her pad, plus I had my little sketchbook with me. I´m anxious to fill the last few pages in the book (I have a new one waiting), so I drew several five-minute poses on this spread. The drawings are not that great (I hate drawing small when drawing from life) but I think they made a pretty decent spread in the end.

Anyway, when I came home, I told my dear M about my silly absent-mindedness. His comment was: “Nina, isn´t it a bit suspicious to attend a life drawing session without paper?”

Well, when you put it that way…

20,5 x 17 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington Gray ink and watercolours on dodgy brand of drawing paper in a sketchbook.

Another week – another life drawing session. With rather poor results this time. The only thing I was remotely happy with was this – a fast sketch of the model´s face. Or half of it.

16 x 15 cm, pencil on cartridge paper.

I went to an open life drawing session yesterday with a friend. I felt a bit rusty, but it was ok after a few warm-up drawings. I like fast poses, it makes me relax in some strange way when I don´t even have a chance to get too caught up in details. All of these were three to four minute poses, except the one on the far left, which was probably around eight minutes.

Each drawing is about 20-30 cm high, drawn in pencil on copier paper. Collage made in Photoshop.