Pastel portrait painting of a young nude model laying on a blanket.

Pastel painting 19 inches x 23 inches

This is another 20-minute sketch from our figure drawing session last weekend. There are parts of this pastel portrait that I really like, and other areas that definitely need some work. But that’s part of the value of doing quick drawings from life. You don’t become TOO invested in them, and, with constant practice, you slowly learn to see and draw the human form with more assurance. And when you can draw a realistic body, you can draw just about anything! At least that is what I keep telling myself….

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Sepia Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel portrait of a young model.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 18 inches

Well, I kept my New Year’s resolution to start attending my nude figure drawing sessions again. I managed to pull my bottom out of bed on Saturday morning and show up for class. We had a wonderful model who I really connected with artistically. This class tends to have all short poses: 2-minute warm-ups, then 10-minute sketches, and finally the “long” poses of 20 minutes. You have to work fast, no time for in-depth pondering. Just paint what you see, and do it quickly. The colors on this pastel portrait are very strong, but I felt they really captured her vibrant, intense personna.

I reused a piece of Canson Mi-Tients paper with an old portrait on it that I wasn’t in love with. (If you look closely, you can see the ghost of  man on the left side.) One of my new goals is to discard pieces that I am not totally proud of. And since art supplies are so expensive, I love the idea of recycling them and creating new art!

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Felt Grey Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel figure drawing of a nude model in various poses.

Pastel drawing ing 11 inches x 17 inches

Some sketches from a recent figure drawing session. These were some of the 10 minute poses we have at the beginning of class to warm up. As the class goes on, we move to longer and longer poses. I felt a little like I was channeling my idol, Degas, in these quick pastel portraits. Lots of color and layering and also poses that are very similar to ones captured by the wonderful impressionist.

Pastel figure drawing of a seated female nude

Pastel painting 12 inches x 17 inches     $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

It’s time to do a little spring cleaning in the studio and I need to “shed” a few art works. Although its been a great year for me so far, I have various pastel drawings and watercolor paintings that need to move on to new homes.

I’ve decided to have a sale with 30% OFF all small works on my blog that were originally  $300 or less. Limited time offer–the sale will last only until June 15th, 2010.

Take a look through previous entries on my artblog by clicking on the arrow at the bottom of the page, or zero in on your favorite mediums or subject matter by clicking on the categories in the right column. If you find an available piece that speaks to you,  contact me directly. (Don’t use the Buy Now buttons because they still show the original prices). I’d love for you to have an original artwork at “sale” prices…and I would really love to create more room in my studio for future art work.

Happy looking and hope to hear from you soon!

Pastel drawing of a nude woman leaning on a hoop.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 16 inches   $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Another pastel figure drawing from this week’s session. I love the process of creating pastel paintings of the human body. It is the absolutely best way to learn to accurately draw what you see, not what you think you know. You can fake a landscape painting or a floral painting, but if you get a drawing of a face or a figure wrong, it is immediately obvious. I have in no way mastered this process, but I look forward to years of perfecting my skills!

I am looking forward to taking a workshop this week with Vianno Szabo, an established portrait artist. A couple of my artist friends will be attending and we are sure to learn a lot!

Nude figure drawing of a young woman in a seated position.

Pastel painting 16 inches x 11 inches   $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

One of my pastel figure drawings from our session this week. I liked the solid, classical position the model took. I worked on “reclaimed paper” (paper with a failed image that’s been scrubbed down). It really gives a rich, complex ground to work on. I think I’m going to use that more often to enhance my works– and god knows I have enough spoiled paper!

Looking for beautiful but inexpensive art to give for the holidays? Think about giclee art prints. I have a wonderful printer who creates stunning prints that are almost identical to the original work. They can be printed at original size or smaller, and sell for a fraction of the price of the original artwork. And they are printed on high quality, archival watercolor paper. Check out the work I have available as giclees here: http://www.jillwagnerart.com/giclee/giclee.htm. All prints can be shipped directly to you so you can avoid the shopping mall mess!

Pastel portrait drawing of a young nude woman

Pastel painting 11 inches x 15 inches   $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Another  pastel figure drawing of Sarah from a different viewpoint. I drew on a “repurposed” grey Mi Tiente paper. (In other words, I scrubbed out and old drawing and used the paper again!) These are quick sketches meant to capture the essence of the model in a short amount of time. They should be fresh and dynamic, not necessarily a perfect representation of every aspect of the subject. I decided to use only 3 values to represent the figure in this piece, so that I wouldn’t get too caught up in all the luscious colors in my pastel box!

Charcoal sketch of a young man thinking

Pastel painting 11 inches x 14 inches $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

We are taking a short vacation “up north” over the holiday weekend so I thought I would post another one of the figure drawings I did at our last session. In this quick sketch I wanted to focus on light and shadow so I used only charcoal and white pastel. This pose kind of reminded me of Rodin’s “The Thinker”. There’s a large cast of it in front of the Detroit Institue of Arts.

Watercolor painting of a nude female

Watercolor painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches $100 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

In figure drawing class, we have about 20 minutes to capture the essence of the model. Drawing so quickly is difficult in pastel and charcoal, but is especially challenging in watercolor. Everything is fluid and the colors run into each other, rarely appearing the way you envisioned them. But sometimes that is a very good thing. I have a chance to step away from “overworking”, my favorite pastime, and create a looser, more dynamic image.

Watercolor painting of standing nude figure model

Watercolor painting 5 inches x 15 inches $100 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.
Well who’d have thunk it? After checking my blog statistics, I found that there is quite a large amount of web users searching on the term “Jill Wagner Nude”. Unfortunately, (and luckily for you) I have no photos of myself in the buff. However, in an effort to keep my art audience happy, I will instead offer some of my watercolor paintings from recent figure drawing classes. Next week I will return to our weekly class and look forward to sketching in both pastel, charcoal and watercolor.