Went, for the first time in years, to a life drawing session. The day I went, they were working costumed. (Please click on each image to see the detail.)
22 people packed into a smallish room, and judging by our sketches we each saw a somewhat different woman -- it was as if the model had become her own cousin, multiplied 22 times, a fractal version of herself endlessly branching through our pads and canvases.
Some of what I experienced:
1. An unexpected performance anxiety that déjà vu'd me right back to those college art student moments. So that's what I was feeling back then...
2. Physical intensity -- standing for two hours with just a couple of short breaks, combined with item one above, put me in a state similar to a very high-output workout. I am very sore this morning.
3. The feeling of being "all thumbs," since my conté and charcoal were too blunt for portrait detail despite sandpapering.
It was good to work large again, to use those bigger muscle-movements.
12 comments:
You clever artist!
What fun--good for you, Lori!
And do you want to be IIMR, no. 2? It will take somebody with verve to follow Miss Susanna!
Love these. And your account of the experience!
these look quite spectacular, lori.
Very nice - I wish i could have seen the 22 other images drawn as separate eyes *see* a subject.
Been a long time since I've been in an art class like that. (I've had soooooo much schooling that I'd only ever take another class for something FUN like art or drawing.)
Great!
I am trying to have the same experience but syill could not get a group here in Lisbon.
Hey y'all -- a very quick and inadequate "howdy."
Charlie: Aw shucks, you charming writer!
Marlyat2: Oh yes, pick me, pick me! Although "verve" is not the word I'd use to describe myself tonight...
MB: Lots of food for thought in the layering of the present experience over what I deeply internalized (and never quite returned to) when I was an art student.
Polona: Thanks for that -- I always see where I didn't quite "get it" and it's nice to hear that y'all see the good in my etudes.
Karen: Well, my feeling about these sorts of things is there is energy, and flow, and discovery, and exploration -- all of which add up to a deep effort-filled kind of fun, but it's not something I can relax in. (I relax in weight-lifting or reading...) I'm glad you can, and don't need to do weight workouts!
Pedro: That seems so odd for a city like Lisbon -- but then I have lived here for a very long time, and I just found this session. I hope you can find or create that -- it is such good practice!
N. hit me with another kid-bug.
But I'll get back to you on that soon! I'll have to study your blog a bit more methodically...
I sympathize with the soreness from standing... and nerves. (I'd need a bar stool or something... No way I could stand for two hours these days. but I like what I see in your sketches... and envy the way I know it changes how you look at things and how you see. (And from your photos, I already KNEW you had a good eye!). Can't wait to follow along on your journey.
My DH confused the connection between my computer and scanner... so I'll not be posting drawings for a while, unless I photograph them.... or Wacom them... and that just is sooooo different.
Best to you.
I would like to try a session like this!I know I would be scared as hell at first!!But when I had art class back in highschool I remember that I felt very calm. My colleagues felt the opposite!I remember to discuss it.It was heaven, a place to relax. But I was not a good pupil at all.And I hated most of the work we had to do...
Lovely that sketch!:-)
Beautiful sketches, Lori.
I love the lines you use to suggest the way the dress falls near the first model's ankle.
These are just gorgeous, absolutely beautiful.
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