Danseuse

On our recent trip to the big smoke (not so smoky these days, fortunately), Andy and I stopped off at the Courtauld Gallery . It houses a very good collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art, and if that floats your boat it’s well worth a visit if you’re in London.

We’d lugged our sketching kits around all day, and decided to make good use of them to draw one of Degas’ bronzes – there was a handy bench in just the right place, which made her all the more appealing.

It was so interesting to take a very close and considered look at the statuette in the course of making the sketch. I hadn’t realised quite how solid the dancers he modelled were; this one was not a nymph, she was a real woman, curvaceous and graceful.

I don’t mind most of the imperfections in this sketch, and I think the scratchiness is quite characterful. However, as you’ll see I made an error on the position of her left arm, which I decided to ‘correct’ with white paint. It sort of worked…I’d have been happier if I’d got it right first time though!