Thursday, April 21, 2011

In My Free Time: Life Drawing

As some of you may have guessed by the frequency of our posts and our vacations, we have a lot of free time.  While we do in fact work, our only hectic teaching days fall on Saturday and Sunday and our weekdays are generally free until evening classes commence around 6 pm.  To avoid complete atrophying of the brain, we try to keep busy and celebrate the spare moments in life.



My latest endeavor: figure drawings in charcoal.  My friend Will approached me several weeks ago about doing life drawing together.  While models are relatively inexpensive here, it is pleasant and practical to draw with others and split the modeling costs.


After much internal discourse, a bit of floundering hesitation (it has been several years since I have drawn a nude and remnants of post-traumatic stress syndrome remain after so many hyper-critical art school professors' critiques), and a trip to the local art store (the inks, paints, pencils, charcoal and paper are instantly inspiring!), I was ready for our session.

 
Now we have sessions once a week and I am rediscovering why I ever wanted to be an artist in the first place: blackened fingers from rubbing charcoal, the pressure-free, unbiased flow of creativity, the contours of the human body that never cease to amaze me - dramatic changes in line and angle at the slightest slouch of the back or twist of the shoulder...


1 comment:

Carol said...

Ah Nellie, I see it all coming back! So good to know you are drawing again.....the supplies alone are an inspiration. It must be fun to go to the Art store there.