Upon arrival at the Exhibit B bar (a “youth club for adults“) in Streatham, I found group facilitator, artist and fellow life model, Lily Holder applying the finishing touches to her preparations for this evening’s Life Drawing at Exhibit B. For me, it was a first return since I’d modelled at the inaugural session here in November last year. Boxes of art materials were already arranged immaculately, just as they were nine months earlier.
At 7:30pm Lily pulled a large black curtain across to separate our life drawing from the rest of the bar. She explained that for the first half of this session she would be setting exercises for the artists. So for example, after a 7-minute warm-up and three 2-minute poses, the next three 1-minute poses were all to be overlaid on top of each other – as per above – and then a 3-minute pose (below) was drawn without looking at the paper.
For the 6-minute pose that followed, Lily asked her horseshoe of artists to spend their first minute simply looking at me without making any marks on the paper and then, in the second minute, the challenge was to try representing me with only four geometric shapes. Another minute was spent looking again, and after that they were free to add as many more shapes as they wished…
5-minute, 6-minute, and 3-minute poses – each with their own specific accompanying exercise – took us to the end of the first half. After a break we completed the session with two more poses: 20-minutes, and 30-minutes. For the former, Lily suggested that artists commence with a fully shaded sheet, then spend five minutes erasing light and five minutes shading dark. The final pose of the evening was fully freestyle.
For a class of this type, in which the organiser is talking and setting tasks throughout, artists have to be totally bought into the idea. Certainly it seemed to me that everyone present was up for it and having a fine time. As the model, I also found it inspiring; our two hours raced by. I’d not seen Lily since we were part of Art Macabre: In Voluptas Mors last December, so it was great to find her on form. Strong energy in the room.
It used to be that I might only get to pose at The Workshop in Geffrye Street, Hoxton once every six months at most. Now, since the loss of his Eastbourne House venue in Bethnal Green, Adrian Dutton has life drawing sessions there twice a week, which in turn meant this Tuesday booking fell within a mere month of my last Monday one.
The pose lengths varied only slightly from my previous visit. First, 10-minutes standing then three poses of 3-minutes each, two of 5-minutes, and two of 15-minutes that took us up to an interval. Artists seemed to be joining us constantly throughout the opening pose until, with about 35 present, we were at capacity. Just as well no more arrived.
During our break, I cleared my pose space in the centre of the room so a trestle table could be brought out and loaded with loaves and dip to feed the multitude. Socialising and eating occupied the next half-hour, after which the room was reset and I resumed with a 30-minute standing pose with my right hand resting on top of a stick.
The most extraordinary aspect of this standing pose was that my hands and both feet went numb. In all my years of life modelling, numbness had never struck me quite like this before. I even wondered if I might collapse when the pose ended and I had to alter position. Fortunately I was able to make a very slow, controlled descent to ground.
A 30-minute seated pose completed the evening’s travails. Artists were encouraged to place their drawings on the floor and I was hugely gratified to discover strong works all around the room. With Esther here to draw me too, and notwithstanding a few tingling extremities, this had been a particularly pleasing session.
With warm sunshine streaming in through The Dellow Centre windows, I took off my robe, entered the round of artists, grasped a wooden stick across both shoulders, and commenced the opening 15-minute standing pose. It is a pose I enjoy and a good one to hold whilst artists are still arriving. We followed it with no fewer than 10 quick poses that began 3-minutes, 2-minutes, 1-minute, decreasing in length down to 7-seconds.
After this frenetic sequence, we completed the first half with two poses of 20-minutes each – back to basics for life drawing traditionalists, and a period of focused study for those who like to exercise their imaginations and draw more than what they see. One artist used this time to represent me as a kind of elf king, resplendent with crown and pencil sceptre; not my usual daywear…
A mug of tea and a couple of digestive biscuits later, we resumed after the break with a 5-minute movement pose. Tim, the life drawing session organiser, called out time checks every 60 seconds while I slowly, slowly, slowly turned 360°, rising, unravelling, stretching, curling, reaching. A couple of artists had murmured low groans on hearing that a movement pose was coming, but others met the challenge magnificently.
The session concluded with a 40-minute long seated pose, side-saddle on a wooden chair, twisting my torso round to the right. A 40-minute body twist is usually good for an ache or two but with a folded sheet under my backside and a cushion beneath an arm that I’d hooked over the chair’s back, I felt comfortable. Lovely feedback from the artists rounded off a nice afternoon.
Mid-August, mid-holiday season, is often a low point for life drawing group attendance numbers yet there was a respectable showing of local artists for my summer return to The Beehive for Tottenham Art Classes. They selected their free drawing materials, then settled down nice and prompt for organiser Taz to begin proceedings at 7pm.
Promptness was critical as we started with the shortest poses: 1-minute, 2, 3, 4, and 5-minutes. Anybody turning up quarter of an hour late would have missed exactly half our evening’s offerings. I finished the first period with two 15-minute poses, and one of 10-minutes. After the break, two 20-minute poses brought the session to a close.
I last attended this venue on the occasion of the group’s fourth birthday, duo modelling with Esther on 18 January. A few works from that session had made it onto the walls of their Two Hours : To Ours exhibition at Craving Coffee in May. Hopefully some of the works I didn’t get a chance to see here this evening will make it to the next one.
An extraordinary day ended at an extraordinary venue for life drawing. A planned jaunt to the Arctic Circle had fallen through when my flight out was delayed for eleven hours at Gatwick airport; thus, instead of beginning the day in north Norway, I woke in south London. Not quite so rare, but the following hours would be special nonetheless. After a panel discussion at Mall Galleries and lunch in St James’s Park, I headed here…
…to Beckenham Place Mansion set in vast grounds between Dulwich and Bromley. This Georgian pile is home to Beckenham life-drawing, led by Jon Long. I’d worked for his other life drawing group at Mycenae House back in March and knew to expect a well-instructed insightful session. I found Jon in the central space of the ground floor, preparing for the arrival of his artists.
The group is relatively new, yet steadily growing in numbers with two more first-timers joining us this evening. There’s still room for all to spread out in this large unfurnished room. We began with three poses of 10-minutes, then added another of 20-minutes to complete the first half. During the first pose, our classical soundtrack was abandoned in favour of Sister Nancy and other summer tunes lilting in from the bar outside.
A single long pose of 50-minutes rounded off the evening. In spite of losing my Nordic adventure, it had been a grand day. The earlier panel discussion, in which Esther had taken part, was especially inspiring – the excerpt below covers how life modelling can be both empowering and liberating, then goes on to examine ways in which the male gaze continues to hinder body equality in the art room. Recommended viewing…
The surface has been scratched and there are many more diverse voices to be heard!
An end was nigh for the long, hot, arid weeks of summer, as under leaden skies I took a meandering walk from Wandsworth Town station to The Cat’s Back pub. Here in an upstairs games and cinema room, I would make my modelling debut for SW15 Social Life Drawing. I relied on memorised maps for direction, so I was relieved to locate it.
I treated myself to a large glass of the house red wine, then headed upstairs in search of Didi, the group organiser. Barely two steps had been ascended when I found myself unexpectedly face to face with Graham Wood – a regular artist at Mall Galleries. The briefest pose he’d hitherto seen me hold was half an hour. This was about to change!
Didi welcomed me to the space and explained her plan for pose times. The emphasis was very much on short work, which is always my preference. Artists stood at easels or took chairs in an L-shape around me – in front and to my right – and we began: five poses of 2-minutes, then 5, 7, 3 (continuous line), 10 and 15-minutes to the break.
During the interval, our artists disappeared to recharge their glasses whilst I continued sipping my large red and admiring some of the striking works they’d left behind. When we resumed, there was time for three more poses: 10, 20 and 15-minutes. Some time midway through these, the heavens opened outside. I contemplated my walk home…
Maybe it was the energetic weather, or maybe the half-time refreshments worked their magic, but it seemed all the drawings inspired by these last poses were strong. I was very happy, and even happier when Graham offered me a lift to the station. All in all, a pleasing first time modelling in Wandsworth. I hope I’ll be back at The Cat’s Back.
In the comfortable warmth of yet another fine summer’s evening, Esther and I ambled down through Alexandra Park and infiltrated The Victoria Stakes in Muswell Hill at ten to seven. This was my second time life modelling here for The Moon and Nude, and my first with Esther drawing. Julia, the group’s organiser, welcomed us warmly. It seemed an age since we had last worked together, yet she remains every bit as kind and engaging. At 7pm, with a good-sized gathering of artists present, we began.
Pose times adhered to a familiar Moon and Nude format: 5-minutes, 4, 3, 2, 1-minute, then increasing to 10-minutes, 15-minutes and 20-minutes. I traversed the oval space offering various new poses and old favourites. As per my first visit, the broad upstairs windows remained entirely unshielded – Julia asked me if this was OK – but whereas last year our electric lighting on a dark autumn night had emblazoned me nude to the outside world, now the late brightness of August guarded our collective privacy.
At the break we all shared in sponge cakes that Julia had generously bought as it was special day for me. Afterwards, I settled down to a single long pose of 40-minutes that concluded a very pleasant session. Right now, whilst I blog these words – exactly one week later – Esther is back at The Victoria Stakes; this time as a life model, and also a photo model for a private project. Alas, disrupted plans mean I’m unable to draw her, so instead here’s a sketch I made at The Garrett Centre on 1 August…
steve ritter 