Buttnekkiddoodles

Returned to the Human Anatomy Lab and positioned myself at the head of the gurney looking from the top of the cadaver towards the abdomen and lower features. The scalp had been pulled off of the skull and draped over the face. The top of the skull was removed and the brain was also removed.
 
so my challenge is to clarify what I’m looking at. As the dissections take place over several weeks, even months and the students are removing skin, muscles, bones, vessels and other features to examine internal structures, it can get quite tricky to identify anatomical features and produce drawings in which there is a clear understanding of what one is looking at. The above drawings depict the head, neck and upper thoracic region and a feature you might expect to see are the clavicle bones.
However, in all three drawings there is some mystery as to what has become of the two bones, each which rest one end on the top of a shoulder and the other on the top of the sternum. In the view on and inverted marble sculpture, you can see the distinctive ridge of each which are also connected to the neck by the powerful sternocleidomastoid muscle which attaches to the lower rear of the mastoid process of the skull situated behind the ear.

so in the top drawing and the following detail of that drawing, you can see a continuous boney ridge between the the exposed cavity below the rib cage and the scale which rest on the cadaver’s face. But how can this be? The clavicle consist of two bones which rest on the top of the sternum and crest the U shape you witness beneath the Adam’s Apple.
      
 
It’s quite obvious my drawing has created confusion and the question is,”What is the structure as illustrated. I ran out of time to further investigate and more closely examine the feature and therefore its role in the architecture of the upper thoracic region and the neck in particular. It also goes to the heart of what is the challenge of drawing how one perceives the visual world, and the role of interpretation of visual phenomena.
The next entry in Butt Nellie Doodles will expand this inquiry.

Stopped in yesterday to the Palette & Chisel where the model for the morning session didn’t show up. The artists present took turns posing.
For the afternoon session however, a new model came for her first time posing at the P&C and being warmed up from the morning session I had a fairly decent time drawing. I was relaxed and though the pose was simple, I found it quite regal in part due to her hair.
     WordPress used to be a decent platform that had in the past been very helpful to me and other artists in gaining exposure on the internet and developing relationships both personal and commercial. 
But now it is just trash. Slow, sluggish to use, forces users multiple failed attempts to simply download images. The expectation is that if you struggle enough, you’ll give in and pay exorbitant fees to have them help you navigate the bullshit SEO labyrinthine mess they created. The artist job is to create the imagery and stories. That should be it! Hastags were simple enough but must have been too efficient and didn’t make them enough $$$$.
I have tried several times to add some more images from my files but with little sense or explanation, I’m having to close and reopen the site. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Having invested more than a dozen years on this site I can only say it’s being guided by pirates and creeps who provide a sub par service to users.

 
Dropped down to the main gallery at the Palette & Chisel after a morning life drawing session, to catch my friend Larry Paulsen give a demo on how he approaches portraiture with watercolors. An excellent draughtsman with a career of doing storyboards for film behind him, Larry now teaches at Chicago’s Palette & Chisel Academy. His classes are packed. Colorful as well as assured in his line work and  minimal layout, students are treated to clear and in depth description of process and the reasons for his approach. They’re also treated to a fare share of wisecracks and engaging stories about artists and their idiosyncratic methods.

the following sketches were from my morning studies that day.

Keep getting the message that this is a craft that requires constant, regular attention. Minus the daily commitment, the rust sets in.

      I don care how long I’ve been at this,   may have s baseline of ability, but it’s sub peak performance if my time commitment slides below 4-5 hours a day with daily activity.  
  This last page of two reclining figures is an example of how my anatomy is not sharp. the eyes on the yop, light skinned woman were too high up on her face and attempts to lower their appearance just thickened them but still dew her face out too long. Also her neck claviclar area was rich with structural information but I came up dhort there as well. 

The bottom figure is a rubbery mess.

 
Having gone to the Palette & Chisel for well over a decade, I’ve seen and drawn my share of models sitting in a chair with grey fabric draped behind them and way over lit. So I actually enjoy drawing the artists in the studio at work. They constantly shift, some leave early and I find the array and cluster of them far more interesting.
Draw with the usual tools I’ve been using for years.