The Three Graces

This summer I went to see the Raphael exhibition "The drawings". It was amazing and not just drawings in the inanimate sense but drawings full of life and vigour. You could sense the emotions and you felt they could have been drawn recently. One of my favourites was of the three graces. It is a tonal study and reminded me of how difficult it is to do a drawing with three figures. This sometimes happens when we have short 2 or 5 minute poses to put on one sheet. Many times it doesn't work and the figures don't look connected in any way. So when it does work, I feel very happy with my drawing and this one below was one of those times. It is on prepared paper, just painted with a big brush beforehand, and then using charcoal and a putty rubber to highlight at the time. I work quickly and try to capture the feeling especially how they are balanced.

My three graces