Modelling Gig on My Birthday

Last Saturday, I had my first serious modelling gig; it was also my 40th Birthday.  However, it didn't go off without a couple of hitches... but once they were out of the way, my friends and I got into it.  By this time, it was around 5pm and we had music going, the place closed up and I was posing for 20 minutes at a time.  

I did 4 poses for 20 minutes each with a break in the middle and then my birthday cake was brought out.  It was made by one of my art guests.  Candles were lit, and photos taken, then we shared the cake between us.  Before long, we were all back at it with the art and drawing; and soon afterwards, we looked at the time and found it was going onto 9pm!  What a great session.  Coffee was made, served up and we all chatted about the session after I put the furniture back into place (and made my house look like a home again and gave them somewhere to sit down and chill out).  By 10pm, my art friends paid me for my time and I had had a wonderful birthday!  

My family couldn't be here for my birthday, so I did this on my birthday... lots of fun, art and cake!  What a great day!  Until my next post, keep creating.

Life Drawing Masterclass

Yesterday, I was off early in the day to attend a Life Drawing Masterclass.  It was a full day - from 10am until 2:30pm - of learning the basics of Life Drawing; with a model there as well.  
I arrived there about half and hour early because my bus was either going to make me early or late - depending on with one I caught.  This gave me a chance to walk around the 'Artwaves' exhibition and to vote on the one I loved the most (which was Identity by Chanel Tanent in Gallery 3).  By the time we all signed in and had picked our places, the teacher was ready and the model had arrived.
Kay Kane works at Griffith University teaching students how to draw with pencil and charcoal and she also teaches animators drawing as well.  The model we had was somebody known to me as I had drawn him before at Southbank last year.  The funny thing was that I didn't really know him until he disrobed and posed that his name popped into my head; just before the teacher told us his name.
We learned how to use the cloud technique with drawing people.  This is when you use the side of your charcoal to shade what you see of the model; starting at the centre of him, then going up and filling in where the arms are and legs.  It was a great exercise for us to do.  By the end of it, we had to draw a fixed line around the cloud with the pointed end of our charcoal and then fill out where the arms and legs would have been.  And believe me!  Mine didn't look anything like what he did!  It was a mess.  We had a break and I went and said hi to the model - seeing I knew him - and caught up with him.  Then, the teacher worked through until around midday - lunch time - and we worked for another hour or so and we had a few more exercises to do before going back to clouding again; but we found we had all improved on that morning.
Kay Kane then talked about her doctorate and what her main piece of work was and how long her current works took her to do, where there's other Life Drawing classes and asked if we'd like to attend another class like this one at the Logan Art Gallery.  Most of us wanted to know faces and heads - portraits - and she was pleased to see we wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of all; and said she'd love to do another workshop in the future.  This is something I will definitely be looking out for!  
I got home at around 3:30pm - when Dad picked me up - and as soon as I walked through the door, all I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep until this morning.  My feet hurt from standing in front of that easel for 5 hours.  My knees hurt from not being able to sit once in a while; and I was so very tired from looking at the model, then looking at my work, then looking back at the model again.  But you know?  I'd do it all again because it's the passion of working with the human body that keeps me wanting to learn more about how to paint it and draw it.  Until my next post, keep creating!  

Life Drawing Workshop