I like this gesture drawing because it’s a departure from my normal crabbed and tortured line work. I’ve been searching for a new vocabulary in drawing, something more free and graceful, something that could capture the whole pose in a few seconds. I began this drawing with a charcoal encrusted chamois. I held it loosely so that I could not possibly draw a thin line. I was looking for big, loose shapes. I think it helped.

I’ve been studying at the Atelier School of Classical Realism in Oakland, California for 2.5 years. When I first began, I loved to draw—I drew all the time—but I’d never had any kind of formal training, so my work always had something wrong with it, errors I couldn’t correct. Drawing a person took me so long and was such a disaster that I had difficulty finishing a drawing or a painting.

After the last few years studying with Rob Anderson (with guest appearances by David Hardy, owner of the Atelier), both exceptional artists, and wonderful teachers, I feel like I’m beginning to learn to speak the language of art. I’m by no means fluent, but I can peice together small sentences and make myself understood.