A booking with Cosy Life Drawing at Framestore – “Academy Award winning visual effects house that combines talent and technology” – means lots of quick poses, with the novelty of a pre-programmed computer timing each pose and playing music…
… except this evening the person who usually operates the computer wasn’t present. After a few unsuccessful attempts to figure it out, we went through the whole first half relying on streaming music and the timer of an artist’s phone. It’s the new old-school.
The irony is that we were in a visual effects room with the most extraordinary array of high tech equipment installed around every wall, the floor and ceiling. As I quipped at the time: computerless here was like being adrift in a lifeboat with nothing to drink.
Of course none of this mattered once we were underway. Artists had their materials, I had my floor, and that’s all we ever truly need. A speaker for our music (muzak?) was improvised by propping the phone in a glass – neat hack!
Wine and crisps were generously shared at half-time. For the second half, somebody managed to get our computer overlord back running the show. However, our first half experience was a lovely reminder there’s still an essential simplicity to our practice.
Pose minutes, 7pm-9:30pm
Part 1 : 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 10, 10, 2.
— break —
Part 2 : 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 15, 15, 15.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
For this evening with LeNu Life Drawing, I was providing poses that ranged between 4 minutes and 20 minutes. In a separate room of Fairkytes Arts Centre a model was sitting for a single long pose as Sherlock Holmes. I’d posed as Sherlock Holmes once before with much-missed Art Macabre (‘Sherlock Bones‘); once was enough for me.
As I’ve said previously, poses with costume and props can be fun but the purist in me still favours working in an uncluttered open space as an unadorned nude figure using only body and inspiration to form creative challenges. It’s what I was able to do in this session, working in the round, mostly standing, or sometimes seated on the floor.
Within my personal style of posing I feel my arm positions are of greatest importance in framing or describing each gesture. Having had two vaccination shots in my upper left arm earlier this afternoon, I had the typical aftermath ache before I even began to make shapes. Fortunately it wasn’t too much of a nuisance. Shapes were unfettered.
Pose minutes, 7:30pm-9:30pm
Part 1 : 5, 4, 8, 10, 15.
— break —
Part 2 : 20, 20.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Helen Joyce.
Artwork by Helen Joyce.
Artwork by Adrian Henderson.
Artwork by Helen Joyce.
Artwork by Adrian Henderson.
Almost a year to the day from my last visit, I returned to The Prince Regent in Herne Hill as life model for SketchPad Drawing. Pleasingly, I found business was booming to the extent that artists had to be split between two rooms whilst I made poses in the double-size doorway connecting them.
The majority of artists worked at easels. These had been arranged in semi-circles on both sides of the doorway, so in essence it was similar to posing in the round, except the thickness of the dividing wall meant those closest to it would experience a slightly restricted view if I wasn’t careful.
As this was most likely to occur if I was either sitting or reclining, I remained standing throughout the first half of the session. After an extended interval for socialising there was time a single pose of 20 minutes, which I felt might work with me laying down if I sprawled upon a table in the doorway and raised my feet up high on the door frame.
And indeed it did work… aside from the ache of having insufficient padding to support the bony points of my pelvis (all my own negligence), and my elevated right leg going completely numb. It was the only pose I miscalculated, however. Generally, I enjoyed the unique challenges of working as one model for two rooms simultaneously.
Pose minutes, 7pm-9pm
Part 1 : 10, 10, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 10.
— break —
Part 2 : 5, 15, 20.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Joris van Hulzen.
Artwork by Daisy Armstrong Brown.
Artwork by Joris van Hulzen.
Artwork by Maria Beddoes.
Artwork by Lisa Brown.
Artwork by Lisa Brown.
Artwork by Lisa Brown.
Artwork by Jake Attwell.
Artwork by Daisy Armstrong Brown.
Artwork by Jake Attwell.
Artwork by Lisa Brown.
Artwork by Lisa Brown.
Artwork by Daisy Armstrong Brown.
Artwork by Keith Whitworth.
Artwork by Maria Beddoes.
My second booking of 2025 with Adrian Dutton’s groups at the Garrett Centre was my thirty-second at that venue in the last twelve years. Never to be taken for granted, repeat bookings are truly a blessing worthy of full gratitude… and originality.
I use this blog to look back on poses from previous visits. The ideal is then to choose different poses from my tried-and-tested ‘stock’ and if possible supplement them with one or two original poses. After a dozen years, however, the latter is getting harder.
I’d arrived with a couple of new ideas, but immediately abandoned them upon seeing that a stick and football had been provided for me as props. My new ideas could wait for some future date. This evening’s originality would be prop-driven.
The football, plus a small ball found under a table, all came into play during the quick opening poses. The 4-foot stick was incorporated into a 10-minute first-half pose and the evening’s final pose, of 20 minutes; horizontal, then vertical.
I confess that one pose from my previous visit slipped into the repertoire when I was asked for a 5-minute warm-up to start our second half. Also, a seated pose had mere minor variations, but then there’s only so much one can vary when sat on the floor.
When I first modelled for Adrian I was told that artists who regularly go to life drawing sessions have “seen it all before“, so I should try to give my poses “something extra“. ‘Twas excellent advice all those years ago, and remains as relevant today.
Pose minutes, 7pm-9pm
Part 1 : 5, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 10, 25.
— break —
Part 2 : 5, 15, 20.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Alexandra Pinkhassov.
After a busy 11-day programme of family Easter Art Events, The Art of Isolation was able to resume its regular weekend life drawing; albeit only the Saturday slot as there could be no class on Easter Sunday.
Uncertainty always hangs over likely attendance numbers for any event in the middle of Easter weekend, but pleasingly there was a strong turn-out this Saturday. Possibly the lack of a Sunday option made a difference… who knows?
Saturday sessions are usually dominated by a single long pose, and so it was on this occasion too. Of course, we scampered through a handful of short warm-ups first but then I settled into the seated position I would hold for an hour and fifteen minutes.
35 minutes into the long pose, we had a break for tea and biscuits. Upon resuming, a few artists switched positions to start a fresh drawing but most continued their work. I remained comfortable throughout, needing no further breaks or stretches.
Straightforward stuff really; which is in no way to diminish the joy or high standards of all the sessions run by artist Rod Kitson here. It remains a favourite venue for me so fingers-crossed for returning to pose on a non-Easter Sunday later in the year.
Pose minutes, 5:30pm-7:30pm
Part 1 : 5, 2, 1.5, 2, 7, 35.
— break —
Part 2 : 40 continuation.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Jacqui Hamer.
Artwork by Chris Gambin.
Back to The Birds in east London. In contrast with my long weekend journeys to and from Tunbridge Wells Life Drawing, this commute is just two short hops for me; still plenty of time for reading on the trains. I am currently enjoying ‘Dombey and Son‘ by Charles Dickens, so I need many journeys to get me through its 1,022 pages.
It’s always a joy to pose for Leytonstone Life Drawing; for the space, the music, the lighting, the pose lengths, the relaxed vibe, and especially for organiser Jennifer Wolf. Jenny has a natural warm-heartedness and infectious enthusiasm for art-making that in turn makes me conscious of wanting to do better myself. It’s a positive feeling.
Artists are at liberty to make art in any way they choose, but during the shorter poses Jenny likes to suggest a challenge or two. For example, this evening as I stood at the centre of a square of tables Jenny timed a 15-minute pose in three 5-minute intervals and suggested artists move round to a different side after each.
Some artists rise for the challenge whilst others stay put (most understandably those with easels or a spread of watercolour paints). It doesn’t matter, so long as everyone is content with their practice. I certainly was with mine. And afterwards, I managed to enjoy even more of ‘Dombey and Son’… courtesy of train delays all the way home.
Pose minutes, 7:30pm-9:30pm
Part 1 : 3, 3, 3, 15, 12, 15.
— break —
Part 2 : 20, 25.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Jennifer Wolf.
Artwork by Elsa.
Just half an hour separates the Tunbridge Wells Life Drawing session for short and medium-length poses (part 1), and this long-pose session (part 2). Roughly a third of that time is spent in shared admiration of the artworks created during the first session but I still had minutes enough for a sandwich and crisps before resuming work.
Only a couple of artists stayed to take part in both sessions. As a general rule across most groups, there’s consistently more take-up for sessions with shorter poses. Even so, we were pleasantly surprised to see a higher than expected number of artists join us for this long-pose study.
We started with two 5-minute warm-up poses; both standing. I then took all the time I required for fidgeting into a seated pose that could be sustained for 90 minutes – two halves of 45 minutes separated by a 15-minute break for tea and biscuits – without it becoming a hideous exercise in the endurance of pain, cramp and/or numbness.
Warm spring sunshine brightened the whole day to an extent that not only did we not need heaters but artists even requested windows and doors be opened to relieve the stuffiness. The trade-off was feeling occasional chilly breezes at my back, but overall: what a contrast to the horribly cold modelling conditions of just a month before!
My pre-pose fidgeting proved worthwhile as I reached the finish without experiencing any physical discomfort or needing an unscheduled stretch-break. It had been a long day but a lovely day. I had been well looked-after, enjoyed the work, met nice people, and felt good. Now all that remained was a two-and-a-half hour journey home… 🙂
Pose minutes, 2:30pm-4:30pm
Part 1 : 5, 5, 45.
— break —
Part 2 : 45 continuation.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
steve ritter 