Merry Christmas to all the artists and models who have kept The Black Hand Group going all these years

 The Nicholas Gallery let started us up in 1998 or 1999 and we met on the top floor of their wonderful gallery.  However, Nicholas closed before 2001, I believe.  We then floundered for a few months but eventually The Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) welcomed us in and that's when we coined the group's name.  We met there for a long time but eventually, with the changing of the leaders of the museum, we had to find another place.  Enter MSU-B.  We had met there with another group for many years on Tuesday evenings.  When that group folded all that was left was The Black Hand Group on Thursdays and the school had no extracurricular life drawing.  They welcomed us back, as it were, and we have called the school home for quite some time.  It's been a long journey but I hope it continues for many more years to come.  Merry Christmas and a wish for a Happy New Year in 2022.

And so 2021 goes out, not with a bang...

... but with a whimper.  No drawing tonight and we won't be meeting the rest of December.  My sincerest apologies.

Looking forward to 2022 and a continued growth of our group.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.  Stay creative, artists.

December 2 session

A late posting of some work from the last session we had with Erin.  Bad luck forced us to cancel the ensuing class but we are on track for one final meeting of 2021.  We had to start mid year and it took some time before we got our bearings again but we're ending the year on a high note.  Hope to see everyone this Thursday, December 16th.  If you can't make it, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Bad news fellow drawing enthusiasts...

 No drawing tonight.  We'll give it the old college try next week.

Miss B takes us up to Thanksgiving break

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Nice group with 3 students in attendance and a new face as well.  Miss B did a stellar job as usual.  It was a great session to take us into the holiday season.  We'll be off next week and then resume our normal schedule.

A favorite returns

 Welcome back, Erin.  A nice group for her return last night.

A large crowd for Lady A

 I hope last night is a view of things to come.  We had 12 artists for a great session with Ashleigh.  Great energy in the studio and I hope it helped produce some great sketches.

Another evening with Miss B

Nice night.  Three new artists joined in.  Still no students, though.  Miss B did another stellar job for us and we are all grateful for her efforts.

Lady A returns

 So much to try to get drawn when Lady A poses.  She has a lot of tattoo art and it is just so enticing to try and get a decently accurate rendering of the ink as well as her figure and face.  Her neck tattoo creates a challenge as it comes off as a shadow unless it is rendered out.  Time is a enemy when that happens.  Her poses are excellent and she is so easy to work with that I just feel a need to try and present as much of her as possible.  I'm not sure how the other artists feel but the challenges she presents are worth it when it all comes together.  A long, single pose for a session would be a real treat.

Miss B part two

 Such a pleasure working with our latest group of models.  Miss B did another wonderful job for us and the group, while not as large as last week, had some nice poses to work from.