Two unfinished pastels

I worked on these Saturday afternoon but I now see that I have to go back and work on more contrast. I also made the mistake of spraying fixative over them to transport back home and it seems that quite a bit of the pastel blew away.

Gesture Drawing

I have been taking a figure drawing class at our new art center, here in town. The class consists of three hours, three times a week, with live model on two days. I have taken three weeks so far, and find it very challenging but worthwhile. We are working with line drawing and fast gesture drawings without looking at the paper, in either case. My main interest in this class is to loosen up a bit and in this way help me in whatever medium I work in. While at my computer today, I got a call from a close friends that loves to talk, fortunately I had my newsprint pad and pen close to me. Before I knew it I had it on my lap and was trying to sketch the sofa in front of me, but quickly found that not thinking of what I was doing and just scribbling, was a much better way to disconnect and just enjoy gesture drawing. I'm sure this could use a lot more work but it is just and exercise, so I will leave it as it is.