Life made flesh

It goes without saying that people who have lived well into middle age have long life and experience behind them with many stories to tell. They may have lost the bloom of youth but the patina of age has its own attraction. To the artist - to this one anyway - older subjects are rich indeed. Their bodies and faces tell stories. I would give half a dozen satin-skinned twenty-something models for this one .. I don't know him, or even his name, but he had a depth that made drawing him absorbing. He would have been extremely handsome at 25 but less good to draw. One can read the story of his life on the lines of his face, and body and all of them suggest subtle things to the pencil. (Man, standing, charcoal pencil A3. 16 04 08 with apologies for the photo) In fact, in other studies where he was facing me, there was a danger of giving too much attention to the high level of interest in his face - craggy but fine - and still handsome actually.
a bientot
Jane