The function room upstairs at The Sun in Clapham is a good size for informal drop-in life drawing. Many moons ago, when only eight people turned up it seemed positively cavernous. This evening, however, with two minutes until start time it seemed we had twenty people present already and just four or five chairs left. I said to stand-in Moon and Nude facilitator, Steven “you should be all right“. Then three more artists walked in together… and then another three…
In total, it was reckoned I had 31 people drawing me. Unprecedented, I think; certainly in my time here. More familiar, however, was the sequence of pose lengths we started with: 5-minutes, 4, 3, 2, 1-minute. After all these early standing and kneeling dynamic moves, I finished the first half with less leg-straining, more arm-straining, seated work; two poses of 20-minutes each: first with one arm extended across a raised knee, then leaning forward onto my left forearm.
We closed with two 25-minute poses: first standing with right arm up and left arm out, then reclining with a twist. From outside I could hear occasional wind-lashes – subtle side-swipes from Hurricane Ophelia as it tormented the Republic of Ireland – whilst a clear sky had replaced the day’s eerie orange haze created by in-blown Saharan sand and Iberian ash. Inside, however, we were all nicely comfortable with a flickering fire in the grate and the warm ambience of a enjoyable evening. Good session.
On Friday 13 October, Esther and I travelled down to Totnes, Devon to participate in “the world’s first ever festival of body acceptance“. The inaugural BodyKind Festival would include speakers, workshops, art, photography, theatre, dance, film and music, all “looking at ways of feeling more comfortable in the skin we’re in“. Esther had been invited to lead a Spirited Bodies life modelling workshop on the Saturday evening.
Festivities opened at The Royal Seven Stars with ‘A Night in the Stars‘. We settled down with a bottle of wine to enjoy poetry by Chris Paradox, naked stand-up comedy by Glory Pearl, and a grand finale that had most of the audience on their feet dancing with School of Strut. Chris was both engaging and edgy, whilst Glory was exactly our kind of performer! And although I’m not a natural strutter, I loved Strut’s blog post.
Saturday was ‘Core Event‘ day, in which a series of speakers (including Glory again) preached their body-positive message at St Mary’s Church from 10:30am to 4:30pm. Too many to laud individually, but top marks go to Suzanne Fearnside for her words on older women, to Not Just Behaviour for their work on children’s body confidence, to My Body Positive for listening to the body itself, and, of course, Harnaam Kaur…
Harnaam Kaur – “the bearded dame” – on bullying and self-acceptance.
As the Core Event closed amid rapturous applause at 4:30pm, so Esther and I briskly made our way to Studio 1 in The Mansion – a grand community building on the main street through town. Esther’s workshop was one of five, all separately ticketed, due to start at 5pm, so we did wonder if anyone would join us! After a nervous wait to get the door unlocked, eight people arrived – a healthy number, given the room’s limit was 15.
Esther outside ‘The Mansion’ in Fore Street, central Totnes.
The studio was ideal: a fully equipped art room with easels and large cushions for the models. We hastily cleared the centre space, set-up the easels and provided drawing materials for each artist. It then fell for me to provide the icebreaker pose – 5-minutes standing. I withdrew to one corner, removed my clothes, and wrapped a sheet around my waist. When called, I stepped forward, dropped the sheet and got into position.
Spirited Bodies is model-centred. Esther shares advice and experience then asks the group: who would like to try modelling for themselves? Three said they would give it a go. First a woman who initially was unsure about men being in the room (me and one other), but then decided to pose with a sheet around her waist, reclining and standing for 5-minutes each. Next was my fellow male, with two poses of 10-minutes each.
Everybody is unique. Our first volunteer overcame her apprehensions to stand strong and confident for her final pose, yet still didn’t want any photos of drawings to appear online. Our second volunteer runs a life group himself but wanted to experience the model’s perspective. Our third volunteer was also no stranger to life drawing, but was now keen to try being the subject. She posed for 5 and 10-minutes.
The spirit in the studio was open, engaging and encouraging. Often at Spirited Bodies events, models opt to pose in group tableaux that Esther suggests, but here – maybe inspired by the whole festival vibe – they were empowered individuals, content to take the floor solo. Nobody posed fully nude, but their personal breakthroughs were all that mattered. At the group’s request, Esther and I finished with a 15-minute duo pose.
The session was over at 7:30pm. We debriefed whilst packing away, and it was lovely to be part of that warm atmosphere. I felt it had been a positive evening for all involved, irrespective of whether they modelled or not; it seemed everybody had opened up and embraced the occasion. Certainly Esther and I had enjoyed their company. That night we celebrated with a superb meal at Willow Vegetarian Restaurant.
St Mary’s Church and the River Dart at Totnes.
The view from Totnes Castle.
We loved Totnes from the moment we stepped off the train – it purrs with independent vivacity and creativity. Everyone was so kind and helpful, from Dinah Gibbons whose drive took the BodyKind Festival from dream to reality, to her friends who opened their wonderful home to us and were the most generous hosts imaginable, to the multitude of volunteers who gave up their time. Thank you, Totnes, I hope we’ll be back!
“This is the water, and this is the well
Drink full and descend
The horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within.”
When the first two series of Twin Peaks were broadcast from 1990 to 1991, I’d been an avid follower of every episode. Nowadays, however, I watch almost no television at all, so the programme’s return in 2017 had sadly passed me by. It meant that when I was offered the opportunity to model as a “very iconic character” from Series 3 at the Twin Peaks UK Festival, I couldn’t begin to think what might be involved. And then I was shown video of ‘The Woodsman‘ in action…
Within the festival’s weekend schedule, Art Macabre life drawing was set for 3pm to 4pm on Saturday 7 October, and 1pm to 2pm the following day. Molly Beth Morossa would be posing as Audrey Horne on both days, but I was only available for day one. I arrived promptly at 2pm to give plenty of time for make-up and costume. Jon Attfield was taking the reins for this event, so it was a bit of a reunion; I’d posed together with Jon and Molly for the Art Macabre Sherlock Bones event in December 2015.
Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre – home of Twin Peaks UK Festival 2017
“If we’re not at the right place at exactly the right time, we won’t find our way in.”
Jon’s preparation for the weekend had been meticulous. I provided only my body and my faded old black jeans, whereas Job brought boots, T-shirt, shirt, fingerless gloves, hat, fake beard, candy-stick cigarettes and Snazaroo face paint. While methodically transforming into character, we were occasionally smiled upon by passing costumed cabaret artists from the Double R Club – major players in bringing the festival to life. We were ready in good time. At 3pm, upon Jon’s cue we entered the Black Lodge.
Me, The Woodsman … The Woodsman, Me
The Black Lodge – © SoulStealer Photography
© Jon Attfield, for Art Macabre
Whilst I myself had not hitherto been acquainted with The Woodsman, a spontaneous “ooooh” from ‘Peakies’ in our audience suggested a high approval rating for the choice of this character – and for Jon’s uncannily accurate recreation of him. Audrey and The Woodsman would be sharing the Black Lodge sofa space for six poses: 5-minutes, 5, 7, 10, 10, and 15-minutes. They may not have encountered one another in any series, but it happened right here in Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre.
In suitably surreal Twin Peaks style, shortly after the fourth pose commenced we had a fox wander into the Black Lodge and remain skulking behind the curtains for a time. This was a first for me in any life drawing setting. After our initial surprise – naturally I remained motionless – the show went on, and the task of luring out the timid creature fell to Jon. Until now, it seemed as though he’d planned for every eventuality, yet even he could be forgiven in not foreseeing this one.
It was a drawing session for fans rather than dedicated artists, but the fans acquitted themselves well. It was a pleasure to enjoy their drawings and share the enthusiasm after our final pose. A few photos were taken in the Black Lodge, before Martin – the official photographer from SoulStealer Photography – led me through other festival rooms to get some more evocative shots; his images are stunning. It then remained only for me to wash, change and grab coffee and a doughnut. Damn fine festival.
My return to Rhodes Avenue Primary School put me centre stage for a new set of lessons. We opened with three poses of roughly 4-minutes each – I say “roughly” as all of the evening’s poses began with an intended duration in mind, but finished when the time seemed about right rather than being precision checked. Having warmed-up her half-a-dozen parents, carers and friends, teacher Rosie presented two exercises: first drawing negative space, and then drawing with masking tape.
For 20-minutes I was to stand in front of a large A-frame ladder, my elbows crooked and left knee bent. Artists were to sketch all the in-between spaces but try to avoid directly capturing the lines of my figure. This proved a tough task. Far more fun was the challenge of capturing my basic form using flat masking tape on paper, drawing over it, and then creating a graphite rubbing of the relief. For this, I stood leaning for 20-minutes with one foot upon a high chair.
There are no tea breaks here, just short time-outs for artists to look at one another’s work after each exercise. For the final pose, I was asked to have my legs flat on the floor and my body upright. I found a suitable sustainable position and stayed in it for 40-minutes, eavesdropping Rosie’s suggestions for looking and mark-making, along with the occasional chatter of this friendly group. Come 9pm, my limbs were slow to reanimate in the first chill of autumn… but I was warmed by some nice artworks.
“Try to think of the torso as two tennis balls in a sock,” suggested Jake, while holding up two tennis balls in a sock. He was opening Tuesday’s Hockley Life Drawing with an exercise called ‘The Bean’. I was to create 20 separate poses of 30-seconds, each with a different tilt, lean or twist from which the artists would draw only my upper body, in the style of a kidney bean… or two tennis balls in a sock.
It was a curious exercise that I’d not come across before, but it went well, resulting in several wonderful pages full of beans. How many were accurate representations of my torso, I couldn’t say, but it certainly warmed-up our full house of artists. Afterwards we moved on to more traditional life modelling poses, permitting me to be expressive with my limbs. We started with two poses of 5-minutes, and one of 10-minutes.
I stood for both 5-minute poses – leaning backwards and reaching up for the first, then bending double and reaching forwards for the second. For 10-minutes I sat on the floor in a tangle of limbs that owed a debt to Egon Schiele. Surprisingly there was time for only one more pose of 15-minutes before our tea break, so I remained sitting, albeit in a much less complicated arrangement – an act of compassion for anyone struggling.
After the interval we completed the session with two poses. First was a standing pose of 15-minutes, with one arm draped across my head and the other crooked behind my back, then finally a reclining pose of half-an-hour – or rather 28-minutes, as a moment was needed to allow a spray of fixative to clear. I included a torso turn so artists could practice their new ‘bean’ skills. Such lovely drawings… these were magic beans.
When en route to a life modelling session, sometimes one wishes only to chill, yet at other times one wants to burn. As the sun set on a draining Monday, I wanted to burn, and I was in luck as my booking at Bridge House, Penge was for an evening of short poses with Anerley and Penge Life Drawing. It meant I could work quickly through a range of stances that would stoke fire in my muscles. Nothing dramatic, but enough for me to feel the latent energy of my own body.
I gave consideration to my poses beforehand so the fire of life would not become a fire of pain. Each pose would be sustainable for the given time: three of 2-minutes, four of 5-minutes, and three of 10-minutes up to a break, then three of 15-minutes to end the session. There was to be no laying around – I stood, sat, squatted, knelt on one knee and knelt on both knees. Plenty of extended arm work, too. The latter went down well with one artist who thanked me afterwards for the challenge it gave him.
The final three poses were all seated: the first, an elongated side-saddle posture on a chunky foot-rest; the next was on the floor with one knee raised and an arm extended across it; the third was on a chair, once again with a knee up, but now in the crook of an elbow, and the fingers of both hands interlocked. It all felt good; I enjoyed my work. Artists were engaged too, as individuals moved seats a couple of times to get a more desirable view – which itself is a bit of a compliment. Just the tonic I needed.
Last time I sat for a long pose at Mall Galleries it was pretty basic. Artists from the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society portrait group had joined us and kindly requested that my body be upright, with face clearly visible. This time I started in a more challenging arrangement and asked if it looked OK. “Could you lower your leg so we can see your body rather than a tangle of limbs?” suggested one. “Ah,” I replied, “but some people like a tangle of limbs.” The mild consensus, however, seemed to favour simplicity, so duly I complied – leg lowered, arms down, body straight.
The 2-hour pose would be divided into two halves of one-hour each without breaks for stretching. Once settled in position I would stay motionless for an hour at a time; not too harsh in itself, yet just because a pose is simple doesn’t necessarily mean there will be no discomfort. In this instance, upon reorganising my limbs I’d allowed my left hand to reach slightly behind and rest on the bench that supported me. The arm was not bearing any weight but the wrist was bent backwards and increasingly became a nagging ache.
During the tea break I shook out my pains. The first hour had actually over-run a little. None of the long pose artists had been keeping watch on the time, so I was indulged to return correspondingly late for the second half. More of the same followed, but my satisfaction is derived from seeing resultant artworks at the end. Even after five years of working as a life model, I still take pleasure from knowing I’ve inspired – or at least contributed to the creation of – good art. My next booking here is for a pre-Christmas brace of 30-minute duo poses with Esther, on 8 December. Should be festive!
steve ritter 