I’ve life-modelled regularly with Adrian Dutton’s groups for more than a decade, yet somehow more than two years had passed since my last visit to his Monday evening venue: St Peter de Beauvoir Town church hall.
Life drawing here is promoted as ‘The Animators‘ sessions, implying an emphasis on quick poses – indeed both my last bookings included fifteen 1-minute poses – but an absence of actual animators attending in recent months has seen it toned down.
I didn’t mind this evening not being excessively gung-ho. A good mixture of short and and medium-length poses suited me, and seemed to suit the artists too. It was a very pleasant evening with nice people in a good space. Just the tonic.
Pose minutes, 7pm-9pm
Part 1 : 5, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 10, 15.
— break —
Part 2 : 5, 10, 15, 20.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Emma Woodcock.
Artwork by Helen Joyce.
Artwork by Mark Lovelace.
Artwork by Emma Woodcock.
Artwork by Helen Joyce.
Artwork by Mark Lovelace.
Hot on the heels of working with tutor Caroline Underwood for a life drawing session at the Granville Park Centre in Lewisham, we renewed acquaintance remotely for one of Caz’s own online portrait drawing classes.
For inspiration, selected artworks from the Siena exhibition at the National Gallery in London were scrutinised at the outset. We also looked at Edvard Munch Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. Mostly, however, I would be channelling Siena.
In addition to saintly iconic expressions of piousness and humility I also threw in a few hand gestures appropriate to the theme. Beyond my webcam, beyond the glass of my home studio, all was calm and bright in the world outside; all was serene within.
It was a nice morning with a lovely little group – focused whilst working, friendly when not. Caz is always looking for more artists to join, so if you fancy refining your portrait skills from the comfort of your home, check out Caroline Underwood classes.
Pose minutes, 10am-12pm
Part 1 : 5, 4, 6, 5, 15, 30.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
I’d modelled in person for Adult Learning Lewisham before, but only at the Brockley Rise Adult Education Centre, never at their Granville Park Centre. And I had worked with tutor Caroline Underwood before, but only online, never in person. The ‘nevers’ were erased by this booking.
What a lovely session it was too, for a group of employees from a firm of architects in the crisp yet gently warming light of early afternoon sunshine. The focus of study was ‘hands’, albeit with varied and expressive gestures attached to a nude model. We got underway with half-a-dozen quick warm-ups before lengthening the poses.
It had only been nine days since my last life modelling work. During that short time I’d had the funeral of one parent, then got away from it all in Bulgaria for four nights, only to be called within an hour of getting home by a paramedic attending the other parent. So it goes. Amid relentlessly intense real life, occasions like this are to be cherished.
Pose minutes, 1pm-3pm
Part 1 : 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 10, 10, 20, 30.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Almost six months on from my debut session at The Clapton Hart, I was truly happy to see life drawing there had flourished. The group was in its infancy last September, when I was its fourth-ever model, but it has matured nicely since then.
Apparently artist numbers can still vary, but I’m sure there were five times as many in attendance to draw me this evening compared with last year. Perhaps the move from Wednesday evenings to Monday evenings was a significant factor. Who knows?
One consistent positive has been the ever-enthusiastic and well-organised running of the group by Catherine Hall. All the upbeat engaging attentiveness, care and energy she brings to Drawing the Star on Tuesdays is present at Clapton Drawing too.
In such an environment it didn’t really matter how I had been with my own challenges during the preceding days or weeks. I could feel good here, enjoy working the space, and hopefully inspire some sublime works. The artists did not disappoint.
Pose minutes, 7:30pm-9pm
Part 1 : 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 10, 10.
— break —
Part 2 : 10, 10, 10.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Catherine Hall.
Artwork by Catherine Hall.
Artwork by Catherine Hall.
Artwork by Rat Rights.
Artwork by Catherine Hall.
Artwork by Natalia Beltyukova Loribo.
Artwork by Catherine Hall.
Artwork by Thom Wheeler.
Was this session still going ahead? That’s what I pondered as I waited in the lift foyer on the 13th floor of London College of Communication – part of University of the Arts London (UAL) – hoping someone would let me through the security door to the classrooms. It was 5:59pm, we were due to start at 6pm, yet no-one was around.
At that point tutor Dolph van Eden arrived, but he shared my predicament. Neither of us are issued door passes by the college, so we have to rely on students to let us in. That’s a bit of a problem if the students don’t turn up. Fortunately a security guard on his rounds was able to open the door. Ten minutes later, the first student arrived.
The first student also turned out to be the only student – no idea what became of the rest. I was expecting maybe up to a dozen. Not a problem for me, though. One tutor, one student and one model is enough for a class. The primary focus was portraiture, but we started and finished with full-figure life poses.
Classroom sessions with only one person drawing tend not to be economically viable in the long run but there’s a nice intimate quality to them when they occur. As always, Dolph’s tuition made fascinating listening; no mental exercises necessary to the pass time. Most importantly, of course, our student seemed to take lots of positives.
Pose minutes, 6pm-8pm
Part 1 : 10, untimed demos, 15, 20.
— break —
Part 2 : 12, 14.
Artworks
Demo artworks by Dolph van Eden.
Sixteen weeks after a particularly cold evening of life drawing at Topolski Studio for one of Adrian Dutton’s groups, I was back… and so too was the ‘arctic blast’. I was rather unlucky as temperatures had been unseasonably high only a few days before, but then plummeted. Such is life. As per my November booking, I got on with it.
On the plus side, at least this time the three little fan heaters did not keep cutting out. All are so weak, however, that on their own they couldn’t possibly overload the studio circuits. The failures occurred last time when portable radiators were also plugged-in. This time no radiators were in use, so no failures, but also no prospect of extra heat.
As a model in these situations the key is to plan poses well in advance. I knew all the likely pose lengths for the whole session before I started, so mentally I planned how I would alternate between standing, sitting and reclining, constantly changing direction in the round, such that I could best avoid two successive ‘cold’ poses.
‘Cold’ poses are the ones that are too remote either from the proximity or direction of the heaters for them to provide any respite. A 20-minute standing pose at the start of the second half was my one truly shiveringly-cold position but I’d taken it on knowing that I would finish the session sitting with a heater close to my back. I survived.
Pose minutes, 7pm-9pm
Part 1 : 15, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 10, 15.
— break —
Part 2 : 20, 20.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Francesca Resta.
Part 1 had been and gone, so had my snacks for the half-hour interval. It was time to begin part 2 of this London Drawing double session at Waterloo Action Centre. As is often the case when our focus moves to longer poses, fewer artists were attending in total, but some came especially, and a few stayed on from the previous two hours.
As per part 1, artist Andrea Voisey was leading the session. Roughly the first third of our time was given over to warm-up work with poses not exceeding 10 minutes. After this we moved on to our two long poses. I was seated for both, albeit presenting very different attitudes and angles.
The last pose on a soft padded chair ought to have been the most comfortable but as is so often the case, I managed to make it painful. I’d perched on the very edge of the chair so its side arms wouldn’t obscure me, and I tilted my body forward but too much over to the right. Hours later I was still paying for those decisions in achiness.
Interesting feedback on that last pose from one artist, however, was they loved trying to capture the curve of my back. It’s fascinating that, despite all my efforts to create a pose with forward-facing limbs, lines, angles and spaces that offered equal challenge all around the room, it was a part of me I couldn’t see that caught the attention.
I’ve become a curvy model at last.
Pose minutes, 4pm-6pm
Part 1 : 10, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, 5, 27.
— break —
Part 2 : 40.
Artworks
With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.
Artwork by Andrea Voisey.
steve ritter 