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5 Nudes: Anastasia
Five life drawings of one model
I always had a soft spot for Anastasia. She was one of the first models I drew using the watercolour technique I developed around 2006 and I still hold one of my early drawings of her as an example of my best work. I have not drawn her for many years, but I still remember the softly spoken calmness she brought to the life class. Ana has very pale skin and thick, dark brown hair, which always makes for a wonderful contrast to paint. I love the way pale skin can appear to be transparently luminous, especially under a direct spotlight, and it can reflect any strong colours around the model as well as exposing the blues and greens of vein and bone just below the surface. I haven’t drawn Ana for many years now but she has recently begun posing again after a long hiatus and I sincerely hope to catch up with her again soon.
1 Anastasia Leaning July 06
Early days for this technique and I can see myself fumbling for method here, trying to find a way to cleanly layer colour without muddying. The drawing is solid enough, but I am struggling with the paint, overworking it, resulting in it almost looking like gouache instead of watercolour. The choice of…
