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Monday, December 17, 2012

Life Modelling 2

More about the Spirited Bodies group life modelling project, as mentioned previously on Repulsive Monnkey.

To SB's Christmas event in Mortlake, London. A day out doing art, but not drawing. On the train there, I sneakily sketched two ladies on the train. A thought crossed my mind - are these two going to what I'm going to? I'm not a subscriber to theories of type, but, well, they looked the type. They also had the spare bags containing what could have been bathrobes, just like my spare bag. And there was something arty about them ... Maybe not as they turned left out of the station where I went right.

Arrived mega early (a dilapidated church hall) and helped Esther shift chairs and make signs. Then brought in the mulled wine apparatus from Lucy's car. More people arrived in dribs and drabs, some artists, but mostly other people modelling. 

A couple I knew from the workshop in November, including Richard Moon, who is a regular model. Really keen on life modelling he say, and busy with it, especially for the older gent. Artists love us, he says, we are so much more interesting to look at than the 20-year olds. As we were talking, and setting up easels, in walk the two from the train! Aha you! Aha you back! Turned out they'd popped to the pub. 

When enough of us had gathered (~12 models), Esther took us through the posing plan. After a few quickies, we were to do Dance, followed by Raft of the Medusa, then the Last Supper, then whatever comes to mind. Esther positioned us like mannequins in rough alignment (printout in hand), talked through the logic of the poses and scattered sheets and cushions. We giggled and ummed and ahhed and wondered where our hands, feet, etc were going to land with respect to other models' faces, chests, legs etc.  We were advised about sightlines, holding of poses, taking rests and such. Rehearsals done,  bouncy Richard led us through a bit of a warmup. Note to self: get a lightweight yukata or something, as my fluffy bathrobe is too warm for warmups.

By this time, there were loads of artists getting set up (40 altogether), and we were nearing the kick-off time, or should that be strip-off time.

I've read other accounts of first-time modelling nerves (or naturist beach going nerves, equivalently), and of the dreaded first five minutes. There's an account of this emotion in this (deep breath) Daily Mail piece written by the journalist Lydia Slater who "braved" a previous SB event. 

Not with me so much!  First 50 milli-seconds more like. After that I'm basically doing the work.  I know full well that the artists are just getting on with their jobs, and the pro models (of which one of my morning sketch targets was one) are doing theirs so I'm mainly thinking about whether the quick poses have anything to draw in them. As advised, I keep going around the clock face so that the artists get a change of scene. We run through our little repertoire of 1, 2, 3, 4 minute poses. Some of the younger people throw some wild shapes. I basically stand or stretch, and knowing full well that my bum looks big in this, try and shape my tum (abs, what are abs?) without appearing to be bothered by the process.

The models are 6 guys, with Richard, 67 at one end of the demographic and I guess Rui (another regular life model) at the other (25?).  Me, along with two other 40's blokes, in the middle. Womankind is represented by a clutch of students of various ages and dimensions but all basically young, a yoga teacher in her 20's (incredibly lithe/slim, probably an elf actually), and my two friends from the 11:54 from Clapham Junction, who are 50-something and maybe more.

For the first dance-based pose, Julie (of the train) and I pose together.  Julie life models fairly frequently (as well as keeping beautifully fit). She's quite sceptical, in a warm advisory way, of me holding my hand up for the entire pose (1 hour).  She's got a neat trick of resting her elbow on her hip.  Sure enough, my arm gets fairly tired, but it's manageable.  Here's the tai chi bit : I make sure there's plenty of peng jin, and that my back is full and the arm shape rounded.  I don't see what the others are doing, though a ballet bar comes in handy for some.  The artists all scratch and scribble, and Miles Davis poops away quietly in the background.  Lucy and Esther (the gaffers) wander around beaming at us and admiring the developing artwork.

Here's one of Julie, I'm the pile of twigs in the background, asking her if she'd like to do a twirl.



Then we regroup and form the dreaded Raft of the Medusa. There is no Hope! We're all going to Die!  I've elected to play the part of Man-who-encourages-the-damned-to-take-heart-for-there-is-a-distant-sail. Again, a foolish arm-in-air pose.  Others flop and lie around. The lucky ones sit or prop on the footstool, and bold Richard "waves" (in reality he gets the pole to rest a hand on).  This is very challenging, but a unique way to spend an hour.  

I can imagine the conversations:  So what did you do when you were in London my dear?  Well father, I and another dozen people, mostly strangers, went to a church, but not to pray, but we all took off our clothes and piled together in the middle of the room at odd angles on a heap of old cushions.  Another group of people paid money to watch, and to record the scene. 

The tableau is clearly appreciated by the artists, and we models took pride in the posing. Esther is delighted and takes a few photos (these have not been cleared yet, so you'll have to imagine them). As predicted, my flying arm gets upset.  The first 20 minutes were bad, maybe it's the ambient music, but no, my arm complains about being still, and bearing its own weight. The second twenty minutes was a battle of will between my and my nervous system. The ambient music doesn't go anywhere. Then it started to hurt.  Aggh!  Wobble!!  The prone models didn't seem much happier, and at least I had space to move and re-adjust, so maybe my pose wasn't so foolish.

The break was very festive, and a chance to catch up on the artwork, mulled wine and stollen.  Re-robed for the walk-around (seems to be the etiquette) I met someone I knew from ULU drawing (which I hadn't been to lately, so we chatted about that).  It's plausible that this (dark pink paper) is her drawing, I'll have to check.

Next one-hour pose was the Last Supper.  Heavily modified to work in 360 degrees, as well as taking some liberties with, say, the gender of our Saviour.  This was much more fun, as Esther brought the mulled wine around and placed in the model's hands.  Excellent!

That's me on the end, before the wine cup got drawn in.  The full frontal, next, of the table shows more or less how this tableau related to the famous picture.

And finally we rounded off with a half-hour anything you want pose.  By this time all the models were very friendly.  Well, imagine a bunch of 12 mates had piled in for a sleepover in the front room, but sans pajamas.  You would be fairly friendly wouldn't you?

I mentioned all of this to one of my students at work (a fairly grownup one), in answer to the standard "did you have a nice weekend" type question.

"Ohh, really, life modelling, ohh ? I suppose it's quite liberating?"

"Well, it depends, probably for the target audience. Me, my shoulder's a bit stiff now".

PS, if you like the sound of this and want to know more, do get in touch with the Spirited Bodies people via their website or Facebook page.  They are looking to build up to charitable status, and are looking for supporters/sponsors, use of venues and other such things. Maybe some IKEA bags would come in handy for the cushions.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Life Modelling

EDIT: recursive link from Spirited Bodies.
http://spiritedbodies.com/2012/11/21/developing-in-the-workshop/

In a life drawing class a few weeks ago, the model announced that she was part of a group called Spirited Bodies, and that they were on the lookout for more models and artists. The aim of SB is a "Community encouraging people to love their bodies as they are, in particular finding body confidence and inner peace via life modelling in a group", its mission to "empower people to have a positive body image, and focus more within" and it runs "Multi-Life Modelling Events where people may recast their body consciousness". 

I think, and I could well be wrong about this, the target person is someone who feels that because they don't fit a Barbie/Ken sterotype there is something wrong with them and they shouldn't be seen in public, let alone with no clothes on. Those who know me would not associate me with lack of body confidence I'm sure, but I'm certainly not a standard issue action man either. Because the sessions involve lots of models I thought this was a low pressure route into life modelling, so I duly put myself forward. 

Tonight, I participated in a preparatory workshop in Clapham, involving two of the organisers, 8 models and 4 artists. It was Ve-ry In-ter-esting ... 

Bit of strange space (computer training room with a vaguely open area in the middle), and a tentative start, but then it settled down. Unlike a normal life class, there was lots of stopping and starting and a bit of talking. People took in turns to pose, given various directions "two minutes, convey a strong emotion" and the rest drew. Pointers of a practical nature were offered and discussed. Various small groups were formed and switched. Doodles/sketches shown at the end. Friendships formed.

So there we are, I now have nearly 20 minutes experience as a life model! Woo!

Aside from standing in one place not talking for minutes at a time, I found the idea of generating the pose the hardest work. I thought "righto I'll try THIS". It might be good, or boring, or hard to hold, and being a noob consists of a lot of trial and error, it seems. Unlike doing a presentation, once the pose is set, there's no playing around with it. If if doesn't work you just have to lump it and do different next time. It's also a bit of challenge working In The Round (I'm so used to rectangular spaces, with me up at one end). I can see why SB place emphasis on the workshops! 

Having a Tai Chi background definitely helped. Not only in standing practice, but also in having a repertoire of ready dynamic poses ready to roll. The main event is later in the year, when there will be dozens of models and even more artists. More reflections to come in the fullness of time.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Don't care about your gender, but may I just say ...


Quite an interesting naturist swim night at Alton (previously on Repulsive Monkey).

Because I don't go that often, and knowing that traditional naturist functions might be on the decline, I do sometimes worry that the session won't be there especially if not enough people go. I guess the leisure centre think it's worthwhile. I got there about mid way, and there were noticeably more people there.   At least given the number of shoes in the changing room. The leisure centre open up the two (M and F) group changing rooms, but naturist couples tend to go to either as a couple (why get shy about stripping off separately for two minutes, only to rejoin unclothed?) so I saw a few female shoes amongst the clumpy male ones.

Once in the pool, it's possible to see what the turnout is like. About the same gender ratio as usual: about 5 women to the 30 men, and the same sort of demographics.

They appeared to me to be the regulars (I'm a semi-regular at best), but a few newbies, including, gasp! some youngish people.  One slightly younger person, to whom I'd spoken casually before (I think I'd said something about a tattoo some months ago) now looked a bit different. The tattoo project had come along nicely (a sinuous floral design around the side and back, not too dense, subtle colours), but also something about her body had changed. Hair, legs, breasts all the same, but hang on ... no more penis. 

Flashback to about a year ago, doing the same sort of who's in tonight mental survey: Man, Man, Man, Woman, Man, Man, Woman ... no hang on, a Bit of Both!  So my first live in the flesh transgender person then. I guessed that for this person, or indeed any person who might feel uncomfortable in a conformist situation, swimming is easier in a naturist environment, which nominally at least is based on liberalism of the body's actual condition, as opposed to having it conform to an ideal (especially an unseen ideal).  I had no idea initially if this was a she becoming a he, or the other way, or neither, and nor did I feel it proper to enquire. Over subsequent swims (several weeks/months, including chatting about body decs), it appeared likely that whatever the story, the trajectory was towards female.

... and Back to the other night.

I had to ask: had it taken a long time/trouble etc? I don't think I was being prurient, and maybe I was motivated by a desire to empathise.  Apparently not: lots of counselling, and hormones, but the actual operation wasn't a big thing for her, just a bit of "donor organ" that she didn't need. I put forward my little theory that a naturist environment is quite a bit more accepting of, shall we say, unconventional physical configurations.  She agreed, though not wholeheartedly. Not that this was the reason for coming to naturist swimming nights (i.e. as the only stare-free option available for someone who might not be accepted in either changing room), as her parents were naturists of old so it was all quite normal.

I also talked to another woman, who turned out to know quite a few people and places I know from my work life, so physicists and hangers-on of various sorts. This all started from one of those weather-type conversations:  "in my day our computers 'ad beige keyboards, terrible they were", "luxury! we 'ad to work on steam-powered teletypes", etc etc conversations.  I didn't expect to be talking about computing architectures, the scientific end of the civil service, EXAFS and other forms of spectroscopy, but there you go. Small world.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Sketchbook Update

Here are some art-related uploads to Flickr.


Draw: Gesture. Class described previously.

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Recent Holborn and ULU drop-in classes.

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There of more of each sort in the respective sets.

These are flagged as Moderate in Flickr, so you'll have to log into your Flickr account and set your Safety preferences accordingly, if you want to see the nudes.


Tutored class : Drawing in the British Museum.
The concept of this one was a more experimental approach to drawing, as you can see. Working from the objects on display, and catching a couple of visitors.

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Sunday, June 03, 2012

Draw : Gesture Workshop


To Brighton for D's birthday, where we mooched around and ate food, and I stared at another naked person for two hours.

(Birthday was nice thanks, Terre à Terre was smashing, as usual, and also a shout out to the Prince George - more delicious veggie grub and a decent pint. Apart from that Brighton was up to its usual standard. We ambled around the shops, glanced at the sea, avoided the semi-ritualistic EDL shoutfest, and even sipped a Jubilee themed cocktail).

In the morning, I dropped into one of Draw's workshops, this one on Gesture Drawing. This is basically about capturing the essence of a pose in a short time.

Draw's HQ is in a rather unprepossessing, if not downright brutal, tower block in that slopey bit of territory between the high ground of the station and the low level of the Old Steine. Inside, it's all industrial paint finishes, exposed concrete and boomy acoustics. I can imagine a Blake's 7 episode being filmed there. But entering the studios is a surprise. It's a bit like Second Life actually, everything's very plain and cut and paste, stylistically, then you turn a corner and you are in someone else's head.  The Draw space is filled with bits and bobs of costumes, piles of props, shelves full of materials and books. Floaty white cloth on the tall windows distributes the light, and there are chairs and easels around.

Having gathered a quorum of artists (I got the impression that the start time was more of a suggested aim rather than a scheduled event), Jake introduced the class concept, the relationship of this workshop to the others and to the untutored drop-ins, and the model (Laura).

We started by drawing without looking. OK we looked a bit (can't help it!), but the idea was to work with the eyes and the model primarily, following the features with the drawing implement. We did a bunch of those, switching between 2-3 minute poses, before then allowing some looking ("look at the model more than the paper"), again with rapid switching of poses. Laura had her work cut out, having to spin around on her little dais so that we all got some physical variety.

The results of the blind drawings were quite scary-looking, so are probably not going to be published. EDIT: some on Flickr. Mine looked like a violent struggle had taken place on the paper, whereas others' were evocative of repetitive therapeutic movements, possibly within the scope of a medical treatment of some kind.  All very entertaining!

Advice was then given on the quality of lines to aim for : keying the important lines to the significant structure (some anatomical insight being vital); using the emotional aspect of the pose as a cue to the style of mark-making; iterating the confident, expressive line, rather than scratching a series of tentative ones. This all seemed credible, but slightly harder to put into practice.  Perhaps I could have done with some demonstrations or some feedback on what I was doing.

And so we progressed, fortified by tea and the solidarity of the company, toward the slightly longer realm of the 10 minute pose. We were encouraged to treat the first 2-3 minutes of the drawing as an exercise in itself, using the remaining time for an upgrade of the initial sketch. Drawing holistically is much more successful than working from top to bottom or left to right.  Amongst other things, it's more likely that the scale of the drawing is going to be self-consistent, which saves time in the end, and makes a composition more successful.

All in all, a useful provocative and energising class. I'm going to have to work it through somehow, of course by doing more drawing, but maybe a bit of reading, probably starting with my Betty Edwards  The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, or perhaps Kimon Nicolaides' The Natural Way to Draw.

Friday, June 01, 2012

Visit to Abbey House Gardens

I had a very enjoyable afternoon getting naked in someone else's garden last weekend. Here's a trip report.

Readers in the UK may be familiar with Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. It's a quite a well-known ornamental garden, er, what's that ghastly word, attraction, that happens also to have several clothing-optional days each year. The owners are themselves naturists, who some time ago they thought to start an experiment, thinking that it would be interesting to see how naturists and clothed visitors might interact. These is somewhat different from when a naturist club takes over a regular venue for a designated period. On such occasions the only visitors are those who know about it in advance. Alton Towers, for example. has annual downtime on its rides though their leisure pool remains open, and so there's a BN-organised visit to the site that weekend. At AHG, however, they take the perhaps bold view that there's no need to close the site to everyone, merely to place enough notices at the entrance and on the website to "warn" the clothed constituency.

So how does it go? Quite well, as it happens. The existence of these days is pretty well-known in the naturist scene, so I've been planning to go along for at least a couple of years. Usually, there's been some sort of excuse not to go, apart from laziness, like poor weather or a family do. Last weekend was bright and warm (hot even), and D was wrapped up in OU work, so off I went. We'd visited the gardens once before after a WOMAD festival, so even if the place was going to be full of weirdos, I knew it wasn't going to be dreadful afternoon.

Having driven along a very warm M4, I park at the town pay and display (very full), and yomp up the steps to the old town and Abbey. What's this? Through the not-very-opaque fence/screen on the garden boundary, one can just see naked men and women ... Past the special signs, pause at the ticket hut to pay (I was expecting a "you do know it's nudie day" spiel but no comment was offered), and I go in. It all looks normal; lots of formal hedges, topiary and sculpture, with interesting planting distributed artfully, all looking in excellent order.  The first visitors I see, in the first of the garden areas, is a family sat around a table looking a bit glum as if their favourite team's just been relegated. Perhaps they all take mood cues from their two teenagers, who look especially non-plussed. And on then through a leafy arch into the bit where the tea shop is, and here we are in a swirl of nudity! About 30 people milling around in the buff. There are some people wearing clothes, but not many. Perhaps the Glums were not impressed, and had retreated to consider their options.

Changing, or rather unclothing, is done in what is usually the (covered) restaurant section off from the tea garden. Carrier bags containing visitor's clothes are spread around, each numbered with a ticket. Ian himself sits numbering bags. I got number 389 (don't know if they started with 001). It reminds me of the kit area at a road race, there are that many bags. The teashop, with a least three staff, is working furiously to keep up with demand. Clearly, there's no problem with visitor numbers!

Having de-clothed, I have a more extensive look around. The main gardens have various areas, and the two lawns are both full of people, walking around (there is so much planting and sculpture to see and admire), or lying or sitting on towels, some having picnic lunches. There must be more than 150 visitors just by a quick count, probably more. Amongst them are perhaps a dozen people wearing any clothes at all, several of whom are with their naturist partners. It seems an ideal environment for the "mixed" couple or family. As you might expect, there is a bit of a male bias, but there are plenty of couples and groups, and even a couple of families with young children.

The atmosphere is very convivial and chatty, more like a garden party than a standard open garden, certainly at the upper level of the site, where the formal aspects are more developed. Behind the Abbey house, the ground falls down to river (Avon?) level, by means of a series of labyrinthine zig-zag paths and steps. This is the area that's vaguely glimpsed from the nearby footpaths. There are many things to see down here, both living and man-made, and the feel is not so formal, more loose and free.

Eventually I reach the river level.  There's a natural theme to the garden here, with the river being crossed by a footbridge, a little hut/pagoda on an island, and some water features. The planting is also beautiful (and labelled by species).

Again, there are chatty visitors walking around alone or in small groups, a couple of families with younger children, and a score of people lying on the lawn. Clothing is very unusual to see. It's hard to find a free spot, but I do find a space to sit, where I draw some of the grounds, especially the art, but also the people.

Drawing is a nice way to get talking to people, being fairly unintrusive, and people like to be drawn or to talk about their own supposed lack of skill. "I wish I could draw, but I really can't".  I have to dispute this, in the nicest possible way: "There's no big secret to it (though there are some tricks). Just draw what you see, hundreds of times, and be prepared to do it better next time".

Some discussion ensues about the suitability of the river for swimming. Certainly the hundreds of tiny fish seem to like it. It looks shallow, clear, and not too fast, so in I go. The bottom is soft and squishy with alluvium but once I'm in properly it's extremely nice. I do a couple of lengths (not knowing where it goes after the footbridge!) turn around and hop out. No messing about with cossies or towels, just jump in and out, and let the sun do the drying.

That's the essence of naturism for me: no fuss, no membership card, no elaborate rituals. It's simple enjoyment of the elements, the body and its senses, and friendly company.

Monday, May 07, 2012

Clover Spa Review

To Birmingham for a trade show, so instead of the usual boxy hotel I opted for a night at Clover Spa.

This is a small hotel with attached spa (also on the pocket size).  The main thing about it is that it's naturist. I'd heard about over the last couple of years through the naturist press and on forums and such like. It's been running for a couple of years now, but I hadn't got organised enough to go.

As you might imagine, naturists tend towards the German way of doing things when it comes to spa etiquette. That is, the view that getting all the kit off leads to a much better experience than squirming about in shorts or towels. So the usual discourse is usually along the lines of "why can't UK facilities (e.g. steam rooms and saunas) be as comfortably textilfrei as the Germans'" and "why do the massage staff at Spa X insist on messing about with a stupid modesty-towel - why don't they just get on with it". It's presumably this audience that Clover Spa is going for, but at the same time it's promoting itself along luxury lines, so as to attract a general clientele.

So off we go. Physically, it's basically a guest house in a quietish suburban district (within Erdington, I think), with a few other such properties along the same road. There's a generous amount of parking, if you have to drive... though I found the nearby Chester Road railway station a comfy walk. This is served several times an hour from Birmingham New Street.

Inside, Tim the gaffer showed me around. There are 7 rooms of varying dimensions, and all the spa facilities are laid out downstairs. From the reception, a changing area (unisex) allows guests to grab a robe, towel and spa slippers. This leads on the lounge and bar. The far end is used as a dining area for staying guests to take their breakfasts. This area is of a super standard. The behind-bar area serves as a kitchen for light bites and sandwiches. It isn't licensed, so soft drinks only.

The spa is at least as good, if not better, than you'd find at typical UK hotel spas. They have: a big steam room, an equally generous (and properly hot) sauna seating at least a dozen (with a bonus window to the garden), a little one-person plunge bath, heated tiled relaxation seats and showers. Also, plenty of places to hang a robe or towel. Standard places tend to forget this crucial feature, because it's assumed you'll want to stay robed. Just outside, there's a generous hot tub. This would easily take 6 or even 8. There's a garden with sun loungers beyond the patio. This is screened by shrubs and trees, so there's going to be no problem with nosy neighbours. The only thing lacking is a swimming pool.

During my visit, there's was a film crew hanging around (Hotel Inspector, to be broadcast in July - is this a sign of less-than-ideal bookings?), so apparently because of this the usual numbers were down. Usually, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the designated social nights. In the evening there were about 4 other day spa guests and no other overnight guests. Poor things, they were prepping up for a garden party later in the week, but the weather wasn't looking that good.

A variety of beauty treatments are on offer, and I tried a "Swedish", i.e. no tricks, massage. This was delivered enjoyably and competently by a nice therapist. I could have done with a slightly more vigourous working, but this is a very minor quibble. She does other jobs too (including making teas and serving sandwiches at Clover), but prefers this spa (clients at her other gigs are apparently not as pleasant). When Clover first started, the therapists were also nude, but there's been a change (I think the local council want to draw a clear line between places like this - if there are any others - and those which are a front for other shenanigans). This was all to the good as far as my masseuse was concerned, e.g. as otherwise she wouldn't be comfortable working there. I know some principled naturists are sniffy about asymmetric nudity in massage, but I'm not especially dogmatic about this. Speaking to Mrs Monkey, its quite likely that most people find that having nude staff seems like a signal of something funny.

After the treatment, I lounged and enjoyed a simple meal. The other visitors went on their way, leaving me to enjoy the ambience and my Kindle.  There's plenty of TV in the lounge and bedrooms, if you like that sort of thing. The advantage of digital TV is that it can be turned into a radio with a few pokes of the remote.

My room upstairs had all the facilities you'd expect. Everything was modern, clean and tasteful. Not a big wardrobe though, though that doesn't seem odd somehow! I had a smaller room, maybe that's why.

Anyway this review is starting to drift, so I'll quickly wrap up.  I was impressed, so I'll definitely be back, with company.  It's a great little hotel, and the spa is a big big plus for me

Location: convenient for Birmingham, though not too much going on in the district.
Accommodation and general hotel facilities: great.
Therapy: very good range and quality.
Spa: Fantastic, would have to travel to a spa hotel to get as good, and to Germany or Austria to find one as naturist-friendly.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Drawing Movement

Whereas drawing from a posed figure is hard enough to do properly, drawing an actual moving human (or animal) is something else again. So off I went to a Dance Drawing Workshop at the University of Surrey (Guildford) to see if I could pick up some skills.

Having found the place (eventually, not quite controlling the Tourette's), and having missed most of the the jolly introductions (1 leader, 1 model, 6 punters) we were straight into the deep end. After a run through of a piece of dance, which I found slightly incomprehensible without its music, we then attempted to draw a skirt-swishing passage from it. My sketchpad at this point looks like a 1 year monkey has played with it: just squirls on a page. Arrgh!! I was trying to speed up the 2-minute gesture drawing technique but it wasn't working. It was either my lack of speed, or more likely my insufficient memory for moving objects.

Getting shallower, or perhaps throwing in some buoyancy aids, we then looked at smaller and smaller sections. First of all a shorter run from the same piece, and then some improvised elements. It seemed were were on a breaking-down/decomposition path rather than a building-up/integration path. Maybe that's for us to work on at home.

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Click on image for bigger size (on Flickr).

At one point we got to a highly structured practice, where the model would, slowly, hold a pose, move, hold the next pose, and repeat in a loop with four states (video). This would correspond to three or four "postures" of tai chi (which, incidentally, would be really good for this sort of drawing exercise). After a while, I got into the rhythm. I could glance up when she was still, draw when she was moving, and then catch up for the next of the sequential poses. By missing out one of the four, I had enough bandwidth to work on three of the four poses, on a single page. So this felt like an interleaved set of quick drawings, rather than drawing movement as such. This was to do with my way of cheating, as I could have equally have tried to draw the moving arcs not the static nodes.

I think my best images of movement came from an African sequence, done in red chalk. The model repeated a ~20 second loop for about 15 minutes, and got a good workout in the process. It was such a joyful dance so there was a lot of happiness in the room at that point, which helped enormously with the drawing.

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There were also some conventional held poses to round off the day. I'm not sure I really wanted these, and anyway had a hard time interpreting the model's form in her black clothes. Clothed models, whatever next!? We finished off with a Degas style number (stretching on the floor, lots of lacy fabric), held for 20 minutes (no picture of that, but you can imagine it better than I can draw it).

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A very interesting experience, well organised, with a nice group of artists attending. Writing about it now has made me think about levels of movement in a different way (yes, I drew myself an annotated diagram), and started me on thinking about tactics for drawing them.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Draw : Grimm Tales

Last Saturday, to a Draw session themed around fairy tales, entitled Grimm Tales.

Quite wonderful concept : bringing theatricality (costumes, music, plot) and fun to the process of life drawing. Pretty popular too, about 100 artists jostling for space to see the models.

Illustrator Geo Parkin captured the vibe much better than I did, and has a superior scanning technique. However, for the morbidly curious, here are some of my sketches (click on image to be taken to Flickr). Links to other artists on Draw's own blog.

DSC_5924 DSC_5923 DSC_5920 DSC_5917 DSC_5914 DSC_5912 DSC_5910 DSC_5909 DSC_5907

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Desirables of a Life Class

I'm not hugely experienced in life drawing (just over two years), though I've seen three or four different types of class/session now. I'm usually open to whatever the class is. However, I've built up some ideas about what I like. I've tried to reflect on the most important, which appear towards the top of the list. I hesitate to call them Requirements, so let's say they are Desirables.  I've left out things like location and frequency, as these are on the Cost side of the equation.  Can you tell that I'm accustomed to thinking with my left brain? Or that I'm fairly grumpy?


My ideal drawing class, or strictly session, would have : 

  1. A Model, or maybe Some Models, who are willing to be still and be studied for a while.

    That's basically it for essentials, so here are the differentiators:
  2. Nude. The figure can best be studied without obstructing clothing. On the model I mean. Some is OK, but essentially I'd like to draw the figure. 
  3. Time. A decent session duration. Two hours is standard, but I could go low as 40 minutes or up three hours. Beyond that, the place has to be comfy and offer other features.
  4. Poses. A variety of poses, some short, some long, in various postures (stand, point, stretch, sit, lie).
  5. Stillness. Poses held quite accurately, though doesn't have to be static to the millimetre.

    You get all that with any normal class with experienced models (or good guidance). So now we go to the aspects which vary a lot from class to class.
  6. Light. Good light falling on the models, preferably warm and directional. Medium shadows that show form.
  7. More Light. Good amount of light on the drawing paper, neutral and flat.  (Yeah I know, bear with me, this is an ideal list.) I'd like to be able to see a light mark made with a 2H pencil.
  8. Knowledge. Both of how long each pose will last, and what poses there will be. No sudden surprises.  Poses may be slightly longer than advertised.
  9. Schedule. Start, break and stop at the advertised time. I usually have a train to catch.
  10. Space. This means adequate sightlines, fairly close to the model. Enough leg and elbow room to adjust my drawing position. There should be the option of sitting (on chairs) or standing to work, and moving around.
  11. Peace. No crashing about, dropping things or giggling.  Noisily setting up next to me after I've been concentrating for 10 mins? ... hmm, not impressed. Talking in a soft voice is fine. This is do with the culture of the class, and harder for the leader to control.
  12. Easels and boards. It's very nice to have these available, as they don't fit in my bag so well.
  13. Tea. I can't survive on will alone, so refreshments are very good to have. A nearby shop/cafe if the venue doesn't put on its own tea. This needs toilets to work properly. A class shorter than 2 hours can do without.
  14. Sympathy/society. Interacting with other artists (and models) is part of the process. I don't especially want formal crits or anything, but it's good to see what approaches and techniques are being used, and to have the chance to chat with the others. Again this is class culture aspect, as some people don't seem comfortable with having their work on show.
  15. Tuition. It depends on the intent of the class. I can cope with none, sympathetic guidance, all the way to stern correction. Demonstration is a very effective technique. This could simply be having a drawing done in the same time as I made my attempt, and getting some quick Q+A with the master.
  16. Materials. It's a bonus to have paper and such for sale, though I'm basically going to bring my favourite stuff to a class. Having consumables such as tape, fixer, water and towel/rags is very nice.
  17. Beer. Post-session pub trips are nice to have. But these would essentially be a wind down for me, so no jumping joints thanks. 
  18. No extraneous noises.  I've listed this one separately as it's to do with the environment rather than class culture.
  19. Hygeine.  The room should be fairly clean. It should be safe to sit on the floor, and there should be wastebins that are not already overflowing.
  20. Admin. This means signing up, paying, finding information and all that, should not be a hassle.
  21. Beautiful models. Well, everyone is beautiful, but you know what I mean. I've listed this simply to show that it's low on the list. Anyone can be a life model.

    Now we are into the nice-to-haves, no particular order :
  22. Variations on class leadership. I've never experienced a class without one, so assume it may be necessary. It would be interesting to try a class led from within, i.e. a model or artist intermittently changing mode, or just by having everyone keep to a chalked-up menu, which might work for a small group of like-minded people.
  23. Theatre (ideas, props, costumes). A sense of occasion is fine, and a narrative is interesting for long sessions. However, if the narrative has surprising elements in it, then this is in danger of breaking the Knowledge of the Pose desirable. If the drawings turn out OK, it also adds interest to the sketchbook, which goes down well with the non-artists who later see it.
  24. Music (see also Theatre).  I don't mind a bit of ambient background noodling, but I could do without singing (unless word-free) and dramatic musical content. Some artists stick their iPods in.  Were I to do so, it would be vocal-free, but not necessarily chill-out. E.g. Electronica, instrumental rock, dub reggae, classical would all work, and could even be pretty loud.  The main thing is that it shouldn't draw attention to itself at the intellectual level. If it's live, it should be in tune (nothing like a flat to draw attention to itself). I recognise this is personal; I'm crap at multitasking (e.g. can't answer a question if I'm typing a sentence), but I do like working with music on.
Next time, I might tell you how some different classes have done on this scale.

Sunday, January 08, 2012

2012 Running Plans

It's that time again. Thou Shalt Resolve to Do Better!

Not really into the whole annual resolution thing these days, but I have indeed signed up for another series of cross-countries, as reported previously. A friend of mine is somehow doing the London Marathon - for charity, I'll find out which one - and so I put it to him that getting up double-early to drive down to Newlands Corner on a chilly Saturday to do a hilly 10 K is just what his training schedule needs. Bearing in mind that his idea of a gradient is the end of Waterloo Bridge, whereas the G3's frequently have runners, or rather ambulatory particpants, on their fours up the side of St Martha's hill.

Looks horrendous - cold muddy and hard work. I hate hills

Let's do it.

Sudden thought. It's just next week! Ahh, better get the trainers on. This week I ran with D around the block on a cold, damp night, headtorch a go go. By myself on a sunny Friday, attacking Frith Hill a couple of times. Again with D gently along the towpath today (Sunday). That's about, what, 10 miles altogether? On the back of nothing at all since mid November? So I'm just about prepared for the first 3 Km.

G3 Series : http://www.allabouttriathlons.co.uk/events_g3-run.html