Life Drawing

I am attending art school after 40 years, its brilliant fun, and I had forgotten how to execute a life drawing, but incredibly, some of the old skills are re-emerging very tentatively. I thought I might share my progress. 
So, in November my friend introduced me to a brilliant Life Drawing 'drop in' session in Stroud. The  very first thing that I observed was how gentle and supportive the host and the group members are. The second observation was how high the standard of the art work was. Yikes!.
It was therefore with some trepidation, 40 years after attending Art College, that I returned to put my pencil to paper in November 2013. Even more disconcerting was that the model was a male. Not my favourite subject to draw, but he wasn't bone thin and had some soft contours which enabled me to dispense with my lack of comfort and get involved with the shapes his poses created.
My second session, in January was more adventurous, I decided to home in on specifics, the multi - pose sessions are not long enough for me to work on a whole subject, and I am very much wanting to  develop some skills with a pencil.

I found the sessions incredibly theraputic, I stood at my easel, drawing, for three hours or there abouts and attempted four poses. Once involved in the drawing shapes I lose all thought about anything else. Some how when drawing, I go to a different place and the world just disappears, so now I realise why the old masters painted life - in order to get away from the realities of life, neat trick!! So life drawing ought to be called 'Escapism'. There we are, with the stroke of a pen(cil) a new movement is created!

Janey Hood, Art

Sadly I did not escape for long, the household chores were still waiting for me when I got home....