Model Session – 18-10-25 – 1

Henriëtte Sibie

This pastel drawing ‘Model Session – 18-10-25 – 1’ is a continuation of my cubist endeavours during live model drawing sessions. Henriëtte Sibie was our model this time. She came to visit us again in community center ‘De Blauwe Tram’. However, not the first time. Last time was about a year ago and in the past I worked with her at Brugman Art in Voorburg. Those who consider themselves live model draftsmen and painters matter once they had the pleasure to meet her. Surely, there are a lot of models around. They flock academies throughout the Netherlands and groups like ours but Henriëtte is knows by all. Also yours truely and my painting of her portrait I made back in 2013 got even sold. Time to extend my series of artworks with her beautiful features and personality as theme.

A Reclining Pose

A reclining pose was the first one whe had her struck this afternoon. Luckily I had a good view on her front with a slightly slanted mattress she reclined on. Regularly it strikes me people during a live drawing session often tend to begin right away. Not me though because I take my time to thoroughly think through a fine composition. Rule number one I learnt in the past: when someone is lieing flat in a full frontal vision, be alarmed! Trying to capture a model from head to toe is useless. It’ll only deliver you a slender sausage on a paper with more than 75% negative space. That was the reason to skip the lower leg of Jelco in my last pastel drawing by the way.

Impressionist Cubism

In order to avoid such mishaps I decided not to include her lower legs. From elbow to the upper side of the head formed about 2/3rd of the total height of the paper. The mattress forms were also fun and a good excuse to fill up the negative space. Not to much though, merely a supportive detail to support the body structures. Personally, I like these angular types of impressionist cubism. They serve me well in my search for capturing the model’s forms quickly. Pastel drawing on Hahnemühle Dürer Ingres-Bütten Night Blue paper (48 x 62,5 x 0.1 cm) Artist: Corné Akkers