This was to be one of those tantalising evenings at The Prince Regent when Esther and I are both booked to model but we must do so just out of sight from each other in adjacent rooms. Still, it was nice to be sharing a session, whatever the circumstance.
Part 1
I started the session two 10-minute poses, whereas Esther was first to put to work on 2-minute poses. As Lisa of SketchPad Drawing was timing us both it meant my 10s overran by a few minutes to allow time for Esther’s changes of pose, but it was fine.
A 20-minute pose (plus a couple of added minutes) brought the opening half to an end for me. Whilst I’d been naked, Esther had been dazzling in a few costume props. Lisa does love a dazzling prop or two. It’s not my forte, but Esther always finds something.
Part 2
After a break and room-swapping, Esther was to finish with one long pose whilst I was to provide two 20-minute poses. At least that was the idea. I had been in position for a little while when some late returners from bar requested that mine be a long pose too.
I was asked and agreed. It was a pose I had used in a couple of other recent sessions so I knew it could be extended. Nonetheless, those additional 20-minutes proved to be a tad more achy than I hoped. Ah well, I could have declined. I guess I must enjoy it…
It’s an endearing quirk of some artists that they can fly with endless imagination when creating new works, yet are soon emitting unsettled murmurs if anyone dares suggest a new sequence of pose times for a life drawing group. So discovered Harriet, stand-in facilitator for The Moon and Nude at The Victoria Stakes. Her heretical proposal to try starting with a 15-minute pose and a few 2-minute poses was swiftly abandoned in favour of the traditional first-half format of 1-minute, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15 and 20-minutes…
In fairness, it was all good-humoured and Harriet did an outstanding job of running the session this evening. The artists were on form too, present in good numbers and even going so far as to give appreciative applause at the end of individual poses rather than wait till our 9pm finish. Possibly unprecedented! During the half-time break, I checked out their artworks – particularly keen to see where the ripping sounds had come from. No, it wasn’t constant dissatisfaction with drawings; rather, some incredible collages.
After the interval we resumed with a 30-minute pose – for which one artist kindly leant me his walking stick – and still had enough time for two poses of 5-minute and one of 2-minutes. Someone called out “could one of them be standing?” Having stood for the previous half-hour I might have been spared that imposition, but in truth I’d intended to stand for one anyway. Three shapes later, we were done. The mood remained positive throughout, hopefully making it a fruitful session for all involved – not least, Harriet.
The first fortnight of October was already my busiest two weeks of the year when I got an email from London Drawing Group asking if I would be available to pose for a full day Egon Schiele themed class at Lewisham Arthouse. I had promised myself: no more bookings! But… London Drawing Group… Egon Schiele… it had to be done.
1-minute and 3-minute poses
Clearly I wasn’t the only fan of this association as tickets for the session sold out very quickly. Lucy McGeown was leading the class; she opened with a short biography of Schiele, from early artistic development to imprisonment for “public immorality”. When our artists were ready, we warmed-up with ten 1-minutes poses and four of 3-minutes.
10-minute poses
I’d modelled for an Egon Schiele class run by London Drawing Group in August 2017, and was happy to reprise that occasion now. My physique lends itself naturally to the poses in his work; I may be twice the age of the artist in his prime and may have had twice the dinners, but I can emulate his public immorality! Two 10-minute poses next.
20-minute pose
At no stage was I asked to replicate any specific pose from Schiele’s paintings. I was simply to supply examples of angularity while Lucy explained various techniques he’d employed at different periods of his all-too-brief career. One 20-minute pose ended the first half, taking us up to an hour-long break for lunch.
4-minute pose
While at lunch, on my own initiative I Googled examples of Schiele’s work that I could try replicating. In one of these, the figure makes a square shape with his arms held at ninety degree angles behind his back. I attempted to do likewise for merely 4-minutes at the start of our second half. Let me tell you, it’s a tough one to maintain.
20-minute poses
Undaunted by my 4-minute fragility, I called upon original Schiele works as inspiration for the next two 20-minute poses: the first standing with one hand on my chin and the other arm across my head; the second seated on the floor, hunched with knees apart and arms crooked about me. Longer poses, but much more bearable.
40-minute pose
For the last 40-minutes of the session I drained the last of my ungainly power: sitting on a stool, one foot on the floor, the other up on the seat, an elbow across my raised knee, and the other hand under its buttock. Not a thing of beauty, but there were ribs, folds, limbs and negative space aplenty – crucially, the artists seemed well pleased.
People say typecasting is not a good thing, but I’m sure I will always appreciate being called upon to pose in the manner of Egon Schiele and his models. It’s an opportunity to become more than the sum of my angles – trying to create physical manifestations of bygone masterpieces and maybe even inspire some new ones. It was a pleasure.
“This is Steve who’ll be modelling tonight,” Esther said to the presenter from Mexican TV channel, Televisa FOROtv. I shook hands and tried not to look startled, having at that minute only just walked through the gate at Waterloo Action Centre, still under the illusion I was there simply to photograph Esther in duo poses with Valentina Rock and being interviewed for the telly. Now it seemed I’d been volunteered into a trio…
Televisa had asked to interview Esther following widespread UK media coverage of her Spirited Bodies campaign to promote life drawing amongst teenagers as a means of combating unrealistic body ideals fuelled by social media. This aligned nicely with her booking to model for London Drawing so dots were joined and here we were. Esther spoke to camera before the session started, then Valentina struck the opening pose.
Anne of London Drawing had introduced the session, explaining the presence of a TV camera and making sure no-one felt uncomfortable. After warming up with Valentina’s elegant stretch for 15-minutes, the artists’ next challenge was drawing three times as many models in just two-thirds the time. Esther and I undressed and joined Valentina for a first trio pose of 10-minutes, then another of 10-minutes, and one of 15-minutes.
That took us up to an interval, during which Valentina and two 17 year-old artists gave television interviews, whilst I roamed around photographing artworks. I was astounded at the high quality of works created in such a short space of time. After the break, we ended with poses of 20 and 25-minutes. Aside from suggesting we alternate our high, middle and low relative positions, Anne left us wholly free to express ourselves.
In tune with the session’s theme of body acceptance and body positivity, we remained quite organic and naturalistic throughout our poses. This seemed to be appreciated by the artists, who could relax with our relatable comfort and physical diversity. I hope the message continues to spread around the world: that observing and drawing the human body, nude and natural, in a safe space, can be of social as well as artistic benefit.
Watch the news story online at Televisa.NEWS: Se popularizan clases de dibujo al natural en Reino Unido – also below…
Figuration life drawing events at The Sparrowhawk are held just once a month, so I considered it something of a rare treat to get this booking. I met Figuration co-founder, animator and artist, Leo Crane on the first floor preparing the room for a 7pm start. We chatted about the session and life in general until, at the appointed hour, he asked me to commence with five poses of 2-minutes and three poses of 5-minutes.
© Leo Crane, Figuration
© Leo Crane, Figuration
© Leo Crane, Figuration
When Leo’s Figuration co-founder partner and professional model, Roy Butler booked me for this evening he asked me what music I enjoy. Figuration playlists are designed with the model in mind! After some thought I replied: “For life drawing, I tend to favour mellow. Maybe think ‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack, that kind of thing.” Teardrop duly opened a superb assemblage of tracks. Next up for me: 10 and 15-minute poses…
© Leo Crane, Figuration
© Leo Crane, Figuration
After a short break for refreshments we finished the session with poses of 15-minutes, 20-minutes and 18-minutes. Temperatures were falling but Roy’s playlist was warming up nicely: ‘Pure Morning‘ by Placebo was followed by a little Portishead, DJ Shadow and – such a treat – The Beta Band, ‘B + A‘. Well it was a treat for me anyway. Great intuition, Roy! For the full collection, check out Spotify: Drawing Steve.
© Leo Crane, Figuration
© Leo Crane, Figuration
I had expected to enjoy this session and wasn’t disappointed. Leo and Roy are two of the nicest guys anyone could meet; the artists here were very friendly and easy-going too. Attention to detail in the organisation, messaging, promotion and materials for the room was exemplary. These events come around only once each month so it could be years till I get another chance to model here, but I’m grateful to have had this one.
On my fifth visit to Rhodes Avenue Primary School, I found myself life modelling for parents in a third different space. After two sessions in the art room and two sessions in the large hall this was our first time in the small hall. We began with three poses of 3 to 5 minutes (fluid times), which our eight artists captured using loose scribbly lines. Next came poses of 6 and 10 minutes in front of the gym climbing frames, and then a 20-minute pose in a crucifix stance, holding the frames while artists drew the negative spaces around me.
There isn’t a half-time interval in these sessions, but there’s often time between poses for the artists to appreciate each other’s work and for group organiser Rosie to explain different techniques. For this evening’s final pose lasting 40-minutes, Rosie suggested drawing big. Huge rolls of paper were brought out, from which each artist cut a strip of about two metres and taped it to the floor. Further tape was glued onto the paper as a representation of the gym frame. Then each artist took a brush fastened to one end of a thin pole and commenced floor painting whilst standing directly over their sheet.
I watched with detached curiosity from my perch on top of a vaulting frame. It’s highly unusual for me to be able to see artworks being produced. Usually the paper is either angled away from me or beyond the limits of my short-sightedness. Rosie shared out Turkish delights and – apart from one artist who preferred sticking to traditional pencil drawing – everybody threw themselves into the challenge with great spirit. At the end, one artist said she struggled to draw me when I’d first modelled for the group but now she felt she’d got the hang of me. Loose lines and lots of fun can do that.
A hectic month is ahead of me. On top of my Monday to Friday full-time day job, I’m usually content with just one or two life model bookings each week to help sustain a sensible work/life balance… yet somehow I find myself with nine bookings in the first fifteen days of October, evenings and weekends, taking me to all corners of London.
Day 1: the insanity begins in Kentish Town, at a corporate booking arranged through City Academy. I’ve modelled at this workplace a couple of times previously, and am familiar with the terrain, even if their main door is now on another side of the building. Five colleagues were staying after hours to draw me on this occasion.
The session unfolded in an ultra-modern multi-media production space – no windows, minimal furnishing and an enormously expensive collection of dark technology at one side. We work in complete silence, exacerbating the overall eeriness, yet the energy is high as poses are very rapid: five of 1-minute, five of 2-minutes, five of 5-minutes…
We finish the first half with a ‘long’ pose of 8-minutes. I’m then left alone in the space during a break for refreshments (yes, I’m offered water). When we resume, we closed the evening with two 20-minute poses. Amid all the computers I found a wooden pole, so I made use of that. And then I dressed and left; October’s journey has begun!
steve ritter 