#44 and #45 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Pregnant Nudes done in unconventional ways

#44

One of the very first drawings I did as an adult. This was me,
pregnant with my daughter. It made me so happy to draw this
piece with the finely detailed blinds and their shadows which
helped created the roundness of the belly.

When I first started doing art, the first set of imagery I settled in on to explore was pregnant nudes. Their shapes were so pleasureable to render - the light and shadow played exquisitely on the rounded forms of breasts and belly.

Another of my very early pieces.
The high contrast image thrilled me
to draw.

That was almost 20 years ago, and suddenly I find myself interested in exploring it again.  I'd been looking at a lot of Aboriginal art (I have tons of images on my Pinterest page here if you're interested) and began to wonder how it would be to try those types of marks on a figure. I started playing in my Visual Journal and on Mi Tientes drawing paper using gel pens in the first image, #44, and a gold gel pen and black Micron 08 in the second, #45.

#44 took me hours to create because I had to draw so many small marks, and I had to think about which value I wanted to create and how to create it with flourescent colors. Their intensity is so strong, the sense of value is almost erased. It was a terrific exercise for me!

#45

#45 was very different.  I took the knowledge I'd gained from doing #44 and used the pens to make rapid marks to describe the form and either a light or dark pen to describe the value, leaving the paper's color itself to serve as the middle tone.  I was excited when I was finished to see how transparent the body appeared, yet also how substantial.  It was an interesting mix for me.