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5 Nudes: Gwen
Five life drawings of one model
Gwen has graced us with their gentle presence in the life room at Elysium for the past year or so. There is no ignoring their size, and I thought hard about whether I would mention it here, as it is self evident, and need not be discussed perhaps. And yet, it is what makes them what they are and what makes them such a magnificent wonder to draw. When you encounter a model of this size, as I have on a number of times, it is almost overwhelming. All of your preconceptions of the relative artistic proportions of a person are thrown to the wind. Shape and form are altered, shadows fall differently, details are lost, others gained and you are made aware of the sheer remarkable scope of the human scale. It is a pleasure, a joy and a privilege and almost always brings out the best in my work. In addition to their figure, Gwen has the most incredible, pale, luminous skin that reflects all around and excites my palette to extremes.
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A five minute, ‘getting to know you’ sketch from my first session with Gwen. This is the third part of a triptych of drawings that I was very happy with for a first go at drawing them.
