A New Week

November brings a bounty of new things to Florence: It is boar season, so chinghiale is on the menu in the restaurants. We had it last night and it was delicious. The new wines are also out, as are the newly pressed olive oils. Several piazzas had festivals for the wines and oils. We spent the weekend going from booth to booth tasting both. It is also truffle season. Tasty dishes with truffle shavings are advertised on the menu boards. It is too bad that most of the tourists went home! They are missing out on a lot of good things.

The 3rd bargue got a new coat of #2B pencil. She needed to go darker in some areas. The areas that remained in the original "dark" state now appear as a halftone. Look on the bottom of the neck. I have not finished this tedious stage, but once I do, I will move on to the light areas again. We have been using graphite pencils exclusively. Carbon pencils  (which are a mixture of graphite and charcoal) can also be used, but only by the experienced artist. These pencils provide very deep, dark black values. That can be a good thing, however, they do not erase as easily as the graphite pencils.  The Bargues can be done in charcoal too. This medium is very "tender" (is easily wiped off the surface of the paper) and great care must be taken with the rendering. There are many options for the adventurous artist. The most labor intensive Bargue drawing ever was here in Florence last week. The International Tattoo Event was hosted by Florence. One man had a bargue drawing tattooed on his back. Some of the art students that went to see him said it was meticulously done and had perfect value transitions.

A new week, a new pose. Today began the first, nine day pose. It is a standing pose - we are starting off easy! Each day we have a benchmark to reach so by the last day we should have a fully rendered drawing. This afternoon I had to have the drawing completed and the shadowed areas outlined. I never got to the shadows. It just means a little more work tomorrow.

Sean and Olivia will be heading home tomorrow. We had a great time with them!