Tonight I discovered the Rittenhouse Drawing Club. A private studio in the Rittenhouse section of the city that offers an open studio once per week. I also discovered that working with a quicker pose can yield interesting results. Given only 20 minutes to complete this pose forced me to concentrate on the bigger picture – gesture, proportion, etc. Knowing that I wouldn’t have time to get mired in the details actually helped me see the most important elements of this drawing.
The drawing is obviously rough and unfinished, but I was surprised to capture the gesture of her left leg behind the right, her left hand facing away from me, and her leaning with her body weight to the left. And something about the obviously unfinished nature of this drawing appeals to me.
I recently saw several works by Impressionists like Degas, Morisot, and Cassat. Several pieces by each artist had an obviously “unfinished” feel to them. Learning that Morisot had little time to paint among her hectic household duties only adds to the poignancy of this style. But it is also interesting to observe that these paintings really didn’t need anything else. Of course a viewer can see that there is canvas showing, there are items outlined but not filled-in, the head of a bust is painted but the rest of the body is simply implied. But, the paintings convey everything the artists wanted; it’s not that they’re unfinished, but that nothing else is needed.
Berthe Morisot
Mary Cassatt
Edgar Degas
Seeing these works helped me look at the sketch I included here with different eyes, and to appreciate its merit, even though it is unfinished.
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