steve ritter

5 Feb 2017

The Sun, London, 30 January 2017

Coincidentally this session came just two days short of a year since I last modelled at The Sun in Clapham. There had been a couple of postponements in that time, but once again I was back working for The Moon and Nude at their south London venue. Arriving early, I spread my freshly-washed white sheet over cushions in the middle of the floor upstairs and changed into my robe.

I opened with 6-minutes in a standing twist, one arm stretching back, then continued: 3-minutes squatting down; 1-minute kneeling with hands raised; 10-minutes standing and leaning back with hands crossed upon shoulders; 15-minutes sitting on the floor, hugging my thighs with knees raised; 20-minutes sitting side-saddle on the cushions. This sequence took us up to a break.

During the interval, organiser Aless offered treacle flapjacks and chocolate cornflake snacks to her artists and model. While enjoying these treats I noticed a stray helium balloon – the remnant of some bygone party – nestled high upon the colourful ceiling fresco. I stood on a chair and reached up to retrieve it, resolving to incorporate it into the first pose when we resumed.

I started the second half reclining for 30-minutes, with one hand on my chest holding the balloon’s string to add a vertical dimension. Next, I stood with both arms painfully ill-positioned for 10-minutes, and finished up on one knee for 5-minutes. It had been a quiet, pleasant evening, sufficiently comfortable not to need a heater. I felt pleased to have made it back here.

29 Jan 2017

Morley College, London, 26 January 2017

Evening life painting – session 3 of 3

I placed my folded white sheet on the floor precisely how it had been last week and the week before. Masking tape marked where my feet should go, although by now my own black footprints gave me all the direction I needed. Someone really ought to wipe the studio floor at Morley College. There were to be no short warm-ups so, at ten past six, when the artists settled, I took off my robe and resumed my long pose.

Full figure started midway through this evening

Portrait developed over two weeks

Full figure started midway through this evening

I stood until a quarter past seven, with brief stretch breaks every 20-minutes. After a long coffee break in Morley’s cafeteria, we continued for a further hour in three parts. At five to nine my work was done. The last 20-minutes when I ought to have been at my most achy, were actually quite euphoric. It had been a strenuous pose felt most keenly on neck and lower back, so I was heartily satisfied to have finished the job.

Full figure developed over two weeks

Full figure and art room, including self-portrait, started this evening

Full figure started this evening

Artists had come and gone but nine were with me and tutor Gillian at the end. Their progress had been interesting to follow. Some started a new study each week, some moved to fresh vantage points, some began with preparatory drawings, some worked their paintings over two weeks. None took a single work through all three weeks, but that didn’t matter. With varying degrees of personal satisfaction, all had done well.

Full figure started midway through this evening

Full figure started this evening after first stretch break

Preparatory sketch

Preparatory sketch, unfavoured hand

As for me… all that remained now was to go home and at last wash my sheet.

27 Jan 2017

The Star by Hackney Downs, 24 January 2017

One high stool, one low stool, pillows covered by a sheet on the floor… all awaiting in the pose space upstairs at The Star by Hackney Downs. It’s become a familiar and welcome sight for me. The 90-minute sessions here are high among my very favourite bookings. As ever, short poses were to the fore, starting with 5-minutes, 4, 3, 2, three of 1-minute, and three of 30-seconds each.

I was posing in the round for (I think) nine artists, including organiser Catherine Hall and my beloved Esther. Not the busiest it’s ever been, but it was bitterly cold outside. Mercifully, there were two heaters roaring away in our room. These proved so effective that I had to turn them off for the next two 10-minute poses. In the first I recreated my long standing pose from last week at Morley College.

After opening with a sequence of quite complicated dynamic poses – one artist said I was the hardest model she’d ever had to draw – I decided to recline for the final pose before our break; partly to get my breath back and partly out of compassion for those struggling to capture my chaotic limbs. Similarly I elongated my body for the last two 15-minute poses of the evening: one on the high stool, the other on the low.

Between dressing myself and returning to the red wine, I flitted around photographing drawings that had been shared on the floor. I will never cease to be impressed by the high standard these artists – regulars and newcomers alike – achieve in such limited time. When Esther and I return next week our roles will be reversed: Esther to model and me to draw. I’m crap at quick work so I fear the overall standard may finally slip!

21 Jan 2017

Morley College, London, 19 January 2017

Evening life painting – session 2 of 3

Lots and lots of stretching, rolling and limbering up: I was back at Morley College to fill a 3-hour session with the long pose I started last week. During that evening I held it for just 50-minutes, yet had neck and back pain for two days afterwards. This time I took greater care over preparation. There were no warm-up poses, so at 6pm I put my feet in the exact same position as before, set my arms, legs and gaze… and began.

The first part of the evening lasted until 7:10pm. I took rest breaks for a minute or two after 20, 40, 55 minutes – each time delicately easing down my raised elbow from its locked position then sitting at the back of the studio, trying to shake suppleness into my sore limbs. Outside we could hear the constant sirens of emergency services. At our interval, I read that a World War II bomb had been dredged from the river nearby.

We resumed at 7:35pm and continued till 8 o’clock before I took my next break. I felt fine – all things considered – up to this point, but upon returning to pose I discovered my arms were no longer happy. We carried on until ten to nine with two more breaks, but I can’t pretend not to have been relieved when it was over. Still, it’s a lovely group with a nice atmosphere, and my preparations did indeed pay off – fewer aches.

Next week is the final week of my three consecutive bookings. It’s likely there will be some alternative warm-up poses, probably in an Egon Schiele style, so still angular rather than soft, but variety helps. I enjoy listening as tutor Gillian Melling gives her advice to the artists – “you need to make the nose bigger and slightly longer” – and I appreciated everyone’s applause at the end of this session; I’m liking it here.

20 Jan 2017

The Prince Regent, Herne Hill, 18 January 2017

Tense moments with SketchPad Drawing before posing began! Esther and I waited upstairs at The Prince Regent pub in Herne Hill, inwardly assessing artist numbers as they arrived. A modest turnout meant we could cuddle up in duo poses all evening, whereas a full turnout meant solo work in different rooms. Artist after artist after artist streamed in through the doors. It did not look promising for us…

Of course, for Lisa – group organiser – it was marvellous. This was the first evening of her new term, so a strong opening presence on a cold January night could only augur well for the future. With regret, however, she had no choice but to separate us. Esther stayed in the main room whilst I relocated to the adjoining blue room. We started with two 15-minute poses, then quickened to work of 2, 2, 1, 5, 3 and 2-minutes.

During the interval that followed, we checked what the artists had made of us. In some of Esther’s poses she was nude; in others she sported a selection of the extraordinary costumes and accessories she’d recently acquired. By contrast, I remained resolutely naked throughout. For the second half, we swapped rooms and settled into 45-minute poses that would take us to a finish. Lisa had me curl in angles on a sofa. Splendid.

Setting aside my disappointment at not posing with Esther, I would have considered it a great session had I not been so bloody freezing! As this was the first class of 2017, I suspect the radiators hadn’t been on since Christmas. My lone puttering heater kept cutting out during the final pose and I was shivering for the last quarter of an hour. But I love this group… and good art will remain long after the chill has left my bones.

17 Jan 2017

Mall Galleries, London, 16 January 2017

As usual, four models had been booked by Hesketh Hubbard Art Society and, as is more often the case, I was on 30-minute pose duty. I arrived to find the layout of Mall Galleries had changed, with two partitions now dividing the exhibition space. I asked at reception: “Where are the half-hour poses?” A genteel lady replied, “At the far end,” and then added solemnly, “it’s a man…”

“I know,” I replied, “it’s me.”

Working in the round, four poses, two either side of a tea break; I usually open with a standing pose, rotate for a sitting pose, then sit and recline in no particular order after the interval. To start, I tried a variation on my long pose at Morley College last week. In particular I wanted to test my theory that if I spent more time stretching beforehand then I wouldn’t feel as much discomfort. And, of course, it was true. Note to self…

Next I fulfilled a request. One artist had descended upon me when I arrived and asked if I would provide a specific pose for her. “I want you sit to like this,” – she said, sitting on the floor, legs wide apart, hands on knees – “with everything showing.” Not quite to all tastes, I thought, but agreed anyway. Cometh the time, I was able to angle myself so only the requester got her desired full-frontal whilst others had nice side shapes.

I resumed the second half with another seated pose, albeit this time somewhat more decorous. Facing in the opposite direction, I perched myself side-saddle on the edge of the posing bench with one arm placed in front of me and the other set behind. This was followed by a supremely comfortable twisted lay-down to end the session. It had gone well – I felt no aches or pains, and the artists shared their work enthusiastically.

As a model who is known for ‘angles’, I find the challenge with these 30-minute poses is to present four distinct positions that: (a) are interesting for the artists; (b) work well in the round; (c) are bearable for half an hour at a time. In a session that includes both short and long poses it’s much easier to offer variety. This scenario requires a bit more advance thought but, after this session, I think I may just have got the hang of it.

15 Jan 2017

Morley College, London, 12 January 2017

Evening life painting – session 1 of 3

I sat in the cafeteria at Morley College, killing time. Having already had train trouble that morning, and with severe weather forecast, I’d travelled up early. A pool of water collected beside me beneath the tip of my umbrella. At half-five I glanced through the window, into the street-lit blackness, and saw the afternoon’s downpour had turned to a flurry of snow. What an evening to have my first life model booking of the year.

This was to be the first of three successive Thursdays for me here, working with tutor Gillian Melling. Each 3-hour session would be centred on one single repeated long pose, but to warm-up our artists – eight of the expected eleven turned up – we began with four 15-minute poses. Despite two dodgy heaters and unreliable radiators, there was enough warmth coming from two other heaters to make sure I was never cold on this wintery night.

And so to the main pose I would be sustaining over three weeks. I’d been forewarned by Gillian that she was hoping for something ‘angular’. When I arrived, she tentatively asked if I would be willing to stand – of course I would. At first I found an upright pose with arms close upon my torso, but this was considered ‘formal’. “Would you like me to make it more open?” I asked. Yes. So I widened the stance, bent one knee, raised one crooked arm to my neck and angled the other from my stomach.

Not the most comfortable position I’ve ever taken, but it met requirements. I only had to endure it for 50-minutes at the end of this session, with short stretch-breaks at the 20 and 40-minute marks. The next two weeks will be more challenging as I expect I’ll have to hold it for anything up to two-and-a-half hours, with breaks. Still, it’s a friendly group, considerately run, and I know I shall enjoy watching the artworks develop.

steve ritter

The Sun, London, 30 January 2017