Liberace Workshop - Day 1

Wow! It has been quite a day. We arrived on Whidbey Island yesterday evening and are now ensconced in a funky little cabin overlooking the ferry route on Puget Sound. There are twenty or so attendees at the workshop which is hosted by WIFAS. The first half of the day was a demo given by our instructor. Rob Liberace is a wonderful instructor and amusing speaker. He is also able to do a drawing demo while talking which I find impressive. After his drawing demonstration we got set up to start our own drawing and then stopped for lunch. The rest of the day was spent drawing and working on what we had learned and saw.
I am hoping this blog will be coherent! Even though I am not as tired as I thought I would be (yay green smoothies!) my mind is on overload with all I have seen and did today. Before I continue, here is my work for the day:

The materials are Prismacolor Verithin colored pencil in terracotta on paper toned with water color and sealed with shellac. The purpose of the finish is to push the pencil into behaving more like red chalk. The Verithin pencil gives a very sharp thin line when properly sharpened.
This drawing was done in a four hour time period, and boy did it go fast! The emphasis was on the torso so the head, at least in my drawing, and the legs and feet have little detail. There were a few people who had more skill and experience than I have who were able to add more detail to the face and limbs. Their drawings were quite lovely and gave me encouragement.
Our models are quite wonderful. During one of the breaks they dressed and then demonstrated a kind of acrobatic yoga that was amazing to behold. It would be pretty fantastic to draw those poses but alas, they could only be held for a very short time.
I am learning a lot of wonderful things and am doing my best to take it all in. It is great to have instruction and feedback again. I really do miss it.
Tomorrow we have another day of drawing and then the last three days will be painting.
We have friends to visit with tomorrow after class so I am not sure if I will get online to post. More to follow though, never fear!
-Renee