I taught at RISD in the illustration department on and off for a few years and was always nagging my students to go to these life drawing sessions and often they would come back with the "excuse" that the model was a no show. At which point I would tell them they should have gone to the Nature Lab, a sort of miniature museum of natural history, full of skeletons, taxidermy and fish.
So it was time to follow my own advice. After the first 45 minutes I realized that my former students must have cursed me. This was neither fun nor exciting. Then those self sabotaging thoughts came..."I should be in my studio"....."This is a waste of time"...."I should be working on my clients projects"...etc. But I continued to push through my own resistance.
Then, without warning, all resistance fell away and there I was, just drawing. Completely present and very happy. I had reoccupied that space I knew not as a RISD teacher but as a RISD student. Before I knew it they were closing the lab for the night and it was time to pack up.
When I arrived at home it was time for a beer and to look at the work. Had I jumped out of my well worn ruts of drawing for the night? I think so....Will I do it again? You bet. There is another open drawing session next week and model or not, I will be there.
And if you are one of my former students, put down the stylus, dig out your charcoal and get your ass in class.
4 comments:
You realy right ! this kind of exercices muste be a ritual before every new art works or projects. Unfortunately for me, I don't make it enough, to don't say almost never. It's the begining of the real drawing. We don't ever stop to impregner ourselves of our environments.
Christopher--lovely drawings. I tend to advise younger artists or ones just starting out to head to a life drawing class post haste. Some head it. To each his own.
I love it, a way of having a spiritual retreat.
And how about a book swap? You must bear with my very first children's book, I did it to brave the lessons it might offer. I did learn a ton about myself. This is priceless. But I didn't learn them soon enough to have what little wisdom I may have acquired show up on the page.
Lovely books you've made, I must say.
R.
Beautiful drawings, masterfully done. Thanks for posting them!
I like your drawings of the ducks. Did you do them in charcoal?
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