Christmas Carol Sing

Last evening a group of us made our way to a seniors residence and sang Christmas Carols for an hour. A very enjoyable experience although I will admit it pushed my comfort level a bit and brought back some memories of being in elementary school concerts...mostly good memories...one of the other singers complemented me on my singing which surprised me although I have been complemented before when doing chanting as part of a yoga seminar I took a few years ago...I have never been encouraged to sing but lately there seems to be some indicators that I should consider the possibility of doing so??

Our group was an ad-hoc collection of individuals-friends, friends of friends mainly....some of whom where very accomplished singers so we were able to pull off a reasonable concert. The coordinator...a middle school teacher with a passion for music said he was astounded at how well we harmonized....One fellow at the lodge said we were the best group that had come into the home in the 5 years he had lived there...a real compliment considering we had no rehearsal time and not sung together as a group before. There was enough accomplished singers to carry the rest of us..no presure on us as individuals at all...the room was full of love, harmony and appreciation...a great way to start the Christmas season.

Drawing Practice-Figure Drawing

Time Spent Drawing Tuesday: 1 hr

On Tuesday I drew 4 figures from Flickr...3 doing yoga.... proportion is progressively getting better...enjoyable pass time..

The Foundation-Figure Drawing

4 Weeks ago I embarked on an artistic journey. I signed up for a figure drawing class taught by my wife. The first time I have taken formal art instruction since high school so it was great to ease back into the fray with a known teaching source.... The course was challenging on many fronts but remarkably satisfying to attend. The models were all clothed. We started out with an older gentlemen who did a great job of dramatic poses. My first drawings were very exaggerated-almost cartoon like but I liked doing the quick gesture drawings. Not thinking-just drawing...I even tried using my left hand. The next week we had a women in her thirties..she has a beautiful face and angelic smile. She wore a frilly white skirt that she moved around to expose her legs. She was a pleasure to draw but it took me a while to get into the flow of drawing...surprisingly I had more difficulty capturing her gestures (and keeping things in proportion) than I did the week before (in fact at one point I felt embarrassed on how I was portraying her because I continued to exaggerate her features-not always in the most flattering manner) ...the following week we had a young women who practiced yoga. She was dressed in her yoga tights which really defined her shape and I found it easier to draw her than the two previous models. On the last evening (she modeled for two sessions) I was really pleased with a few of my drawings-I received good feedback on my execution!!!

In between classes I practiced drawing by referencing pictures on the internet. There are so many sources and so many interesting people to draw. I figure (no pun intended) if I keep practicing I will eventually get it...