"a few lines ..."

Last night was my second life drawing session. This time we had a male model and started with 2-minute croquis.

Followed by 20-minute poses. I used watercolor pencils for the first two. Usually I would use watercolor washes, but the model took folded-upon-himself poses, which I had to figure out (with my slim knowledge of anatomy!) and the lighting was not helpful, that is, it was not strong or directional enough to make dramatic shadows.

When I saw the third 20-minute pose, I thought, I'll never be able to make anything of that, so decided to use pen and do a "modified" contour drawing.

from "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey"
William Wordsworth

For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of thought,
And rolls through all things.