As I mentioned before I have been going to drawing classes recently. It was not something I was planning to take on but it was one of these opportunities that present themselves suddenly.
A month ago I got an e-mail at work saying that a volunteer was needed to fill in for someone at one of these Life Drawing classes near Barbican. I cannot count with my fingers how many times I have been presented with opportunities like these and they usually led me to important things. Life drawing, free drinks and socializing...sounded like my kinda evening so I said yes.
The classes are offered by a company called Desso in their showroom and they are part of an initiative called Drawing At Work that aims at helping design professionals get back in touch with the fundamental drawing skills that we have lost over the years to the PC revolution of recent decades.
The first session was about finding volumes and observing while sketching in a given amount of time - I found this session very forgiving because it was with Conte Crayon, which is something I am really into right now. One thing that amazed me was the model's ability of striking a pose and keeping it for 5 minutes...I was in pain just thinking about it. Here's the fruit of that session:
When I started drawing in my first session, I was very rigid and a bit sarcastic about the whole thing, but as I started to define some shapes, I suddenly found myself absorbed into the piece...I felt a release with every stroke of my charcoal and by the end I felt like I just finished an hour long run.
The third session was about light and shadow and we used some washes. I found this really challenging as I am crap at wet media usually. Below, the results of the session:
I think the most important thing I have learned in this sessions is to let go: in order to truly learn and grow as an artist you have to take anything you do as a casual sketch. If you get too serious and caught up, you arrest your development. I reflect at times how much this applies to everything in life...
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