Life drawing with Irina

In this life-drawing session, I tried using a variety of media, with charcoal for some quick (one or two minutes) poses, and pencil for some slightly longer ones.
In the end, I reverted to Conte crayon on coloured paper for the longer 50-minute pose shown here...
I had a few problems with the left arm and hand, and also the right hand, and the result is a bit strange, I have to admit. 

 This was one of the earlier, shorter poses, done in charcoal pencil. Again, I'm not very happy with the result, even though it was a very interesting pose with the legs crossed and the left foot hooked behind the right leg.
Basically, I think I've made the body too long and the legs too short. And the hands are completely wrong. All in all, not very good..I'd have liked to spend more time on this pose as I could have worked on someof these failings.

Samson Slaying the Philistine

This drawing was done at the Victoria & Albert Museum where they have a great selection of stone and marble statues.
I chose this statue because of its subject and general sense of movement and strength. It shows Samson about to strike the crouching Philistine with the jawbone of an ass (?). He holds the weapon aloft while yanking back the head of his victim by the hair. It's a pretty dramatic pose, full of tension and straining muscles.
I spent about 40 minutes on it, working with a 4B pencil, and working from a standing position (one of the museum assistants did kindly offer to bring me a stool but by this time I didn't want to change position!)
I'm not unhappy with the result but I must admit it fails to capture the sheer vigour and strength of the original. I plan to return and maybe use a combination of pencil, chalk and ink to achieve a bit more 'body' to the image. I will also need to spend more time.

I've added a photo to show how my image compares...