Goddess – Daily Drawing

“Venus after sculpture by Joseph Nollekens” – 9 x 12 charcoal and chalk on paper

Today’s daily painting is actually a drawing done yesterday in one of the galleries at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles – the one in the Sepulveda pass, not the villa. This is another view of Venus a marble by Joseph Nollekens. So as not to block the view of the visitors, I sat along a wall to the left of the statue and quietly drew using charcoal and white chalk on toned paper. The light was coming in softly from the skylight, which made the roundness easy to visualize.

I drew five of six sculptures while I was there … slowly, and with a lot of visual measuring of proportions. I liked working on the toned paper because I didn’t have to create all the midtones to suggest a feeling of volume. I will be posting other drawings this week and probably doing more studies in preparation for taking a life drawing class when my watercolor class ends.

Comments

  1. TeriC
    February 17, 2007

    Karen, this is just beautifully done! I also love toned paper.

  2. joyce
    February 17, 2007

    This is beautiful! You are going to that life drawing class with a running start!

  3. martha
    February 17, 2007

    Perfect proportions and I love the highlights. Beautiful!

  4. Michele Beaulieu
    February 17, 2007

    This is so lovely. It is refreshing to see the classical style. Nice work.

  5. Pamela
    February 18, 2007

    jealous I am.

  6. jules
    February 18, 2007

    Karen I do like this do much – it’s the toned paper which allows the use of white highlights – You’ve inspired me today.

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