Drove to Castro Valley to draw. While the model was late, she made up for lost time and was beautiful-lovely skin tones. ,and very classical poses. It always amazes me-- at home it's  such a struggle to get into the car and drive two hours to draw,pay 30 bucks in gas and 15 in models fee--I have to  leave at 5 30 and get home at 11 45...( which i dread doing) but god when the model is good what a wonderful experience. How lucky i am to be able to do this at 69. Today  the quality of the modeling lifted the class. I made new discoveries.--partly because i was using some very thin charcoal and it kept breaking on me. That introduced a randomness in my line--starts and stops. various thicknesses, sudden unexpected smudges ,etc.

I also for the 3 or 4 time in 20 years actually saw how to include the background as large chunks in my drawings and how to use the envelope , directional lines, and lines from the chunks to create unique senses of light. It was quite exciting.  Now, i just have to live long enough to explore it. Next time i draw I hope I can come back to the  creative place i was drawing from tonight. Some of the drawings got smudged driving home. so we'll see how i can fix them up.  But what a deep blessing to be able to do this activity. And i am quite fond of the other people who draw in this Thursday night group. What a lovely experience. How lucky i am.