When I started rocking I stopped...
Apr 16, 2014 23:20:26 GMT -5
sandsman1, Fossilman, and 2 more like this
Post by herchenx on Apr 16, 2014 23:20:26 GMT -5
Drawing.
For about 10 years I attended a weekly life drawing class. I won't dance around the issue, life drawing in this case means drawing nude models from life. The last 5 years I ran the local class in Fort Collins.
As a kid, I'd always been captivated by classical oil painting, and remember always wanting to be able to *do* that. As I was approaching 30 it occurred to me that I'd die long before I got around to trying all the things I wanted to, and if I was going to do any of them I'd best not wait until the time was right and I had everything sorted out, and I just needed to make it happen or at least try.
At the time, I lived in Kenosha, WI and after talking with my wife decided to start attending a weekly life drawing class at an art coop there. I walked in as green as a person could, and there was no way to hide the fact that I hadn't a clue what I was doing. The model may not have had any clothes on but I don't think I've ever felt more exposed in my life.
The people were welcoming and after seeing me start to come to the class consistently began to encourage me to keep it up.
Well I did. Several years there, several more once I moved here and got settled, and then finally due to a prior class coordinator leaving I needed to step up or the class was going to stop.
Along the way I've picked studio photography (we'll leave that for another post) and oil painting, but I stayed with life drawing - every Monday for 3 hours - for 10 years.
Then I started rocking and stopped drawing, cold. I haven't picked up a pencil in over 2 years and haven't looked at any of the old drawings I've done. In fact I hired a creative friend to cull my thousands of drawings down to what was worth keeping. Hundreds of crappy sketches were recycled or burned. The rest sit in the basement, in the dark on a shelf.
Well last night, due to the persistence of a friend who took over the group after I left, I was able to go back to the class and give it a try.
I had a good time. I was really rusty. It was great to see some long-time-friends I've missed for the past couple years.
I don't want to ruffle any feathers so I'll just share a single link to one of the 3 very rusty sketches I did. The paper is 18" x 24" and in case there was any ambiguity this is a drawing of a nude, naked person. So if that bothers you or you think you might be offended please don't click it.
This was a 15 minute sketch and in spite of the abundance of problems I really like the way it feels.
Here's the link, you've been warned:
figure sketch
For about 10 years I attended a weekly life drawing class. I won't dance around the issue, life drawing in this case means drawing nude models from life. The last 5 years I ran the local class in Fort Collins.
As a kid, I'd always been captivated by classical oil painting, and remember always wanting to be able to *do* that. As I was approaching 30 it occurred to me that I'd die long before I got around to trying all the things I wanted to, and if I was going to do any of them I'd best not wait until the time was right and I had everything sorted out, and I just needed to make it happen or at least try.
At the time, I lived in Kenosha, WI and after talking with my wife decided to start attending a weekly life drawing class at an art coop there. I walked in as green as a person could, and there was no way to hide the fact that I hadn't a clue what I was doing. The model may not have had any clothes on but I don't think I've ever felt more exposed in my life.
The people were welcoming and after seeing me start to come to the class consistently began to encourage me to keep it up.
Well I did. Several years there, several more once I moved here and got settled, and then finally due to a prior class coordinator leaving I needed to step up or the class was going to stop.
Along the way I've picked studio photography (we'll leave that for another post) and oil painting, but I stayed with life drawing - every Monday for 3 hours - for 10 years.
Then I started rocking and stopped drawing, cold. I haven't picked up a pencil in over 2 years and haven't looked at any of the old drawings I've done. In fact I hired a creative friend to cull my thousands of drawings down to what was worth keeping. Hundreds of crappy sketches were recycled or burned. The rest sit in the basement, in the dark on a shelf.
Well last night, due to the persistence of a friend who took over the group after I left, I was able to go back to the class and give it a try.
I had a good time. I was really rusty. It was great to see some long-time-friends I've missed for the past couple years.
I don't want to ruffle any feathers so I'll just share a single link to one of the 3 very rusty sketches I did. The paper is 18" x 24" and in case there was any ambiguity this is a drawing of a nude, naked person. So if that bothers you or you think you might be offended please don't click it.
This was a 15 minute sketch and in spite of the abundance of problems I really like the way it feels.
Here's the link, you've been warned:
figure sketch