I came across an antique drawing book — Cours de dessin by Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme (c. 1900–1930) — filled with demonstration drawings and blank practice blocks meant for the student’s hand.

On this page, I drew one of my favorite muses in blue colored pencil on the left, then painted her in gouache on the right, placing my own study directly into the rhythm of the original instruction. (The drawings in blocks one and three are part of the workbook’s historic teaching sequence.)

The entire spread has been float-mounted as an open book, preserving both the artwork and the artifact as a single composition. The piece measures 17.25 × 7.75 inches and is set in a chocolate-gloss gallery frame. Final dimensions are 21.5 × 11.5 inches. This artwork arrives framed and ready to hang.