Drawing life
Posted by Richard on | May 10, 2006
Partially inspired by one of my peers here on the Chimney (hmm, should that be capitalised?) I recently attended my first life drawing class. A 15 minute walk from work is enough time to send the worries of the day tumbling down the street amongst the expiring leaves of Autumn. In their place comes apprehension, self conciousness - memories of school, the legacy of home made trousers and skivvies, a feeble physique and poor hand eye coordination. Shuffling nervously through the door (late) I am anticipating the Tutors empathetic advice. ‘I think you’re in the wrong room Poindexter, Memory enhancement through Sudoku is down the hall.’
Having stumbled through my response to the inevitable and almost patronising question of ‘And so why are you here, what are you hoping to get out of the class?’ I take my place behind the easel. I am seperated from my fellow students by 10 years, a shirt with a collar and approximately 2.5 feet. Oh, and there is a complete stranger casually disrobing in the middle of the room. No, this is going well, really it is.
With a thin sliver of burnt willow in hand we make our first corruption of the virginal butchers paper. Exactly 120 seconds later the torment ends. Staring back at me is a bloated and distorted human form, a series of clumsy marks and corrections. I search for signs of hope, an interesting change in line, the serendipity of breaking charcoal. I find nothing.
With the spell of white broken time is lost to multiple poses, a flurry of mark making, emphasis and erasure. Three hours pass. It intrigues me that the observation and recording process is free of judgement. The figure is neither perfect or imperfect. It has no flaws only different shapes, changes in proportion lightness and shading. We reflect on our peers work. Momentarily we are all the model, nude, the central figure examined by all in the room. Unlike her our bodies slump, we look down and avoid the searching eyes.
I have absolutely no idea where this post is going. It seems to be some sort of waffling philosophical reflection, maybe the subtle reversal in the title pointed me in that direction or maybe I just felt like banging on about something, anything to no one for a while. Anyway it’s not - intelligent or thought out I mean - It’s just some words about pictures.
Comments
3 Responses to “Drawing life”
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May 11th, 2006 @ 2:57 pm
Nicely put. I really need to learn to draw at some stage.
Mik does life drawing at a place in Fitzroy. You guys could go together.
May 12th, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
Price,
Where’s an image of the resulting marks, smudges and corrections? Come on, I show the world mine, so show us yours.
Thanks for your amazing description of adult education - the excruciating feeling of being older, trying not to compare your work to that of your (younger, hipper) peers, and the confronting blank page.
And the occasional glimmer that something you gave sone might be ok.
May 13th, 2006 @ 12:39 am
Yeah show us your drawings!