Drawing Energy: Re-experiencing Life Drawing

It’s been decades since I took a life drawing class. Back in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, in the earlier part of my visual art journey, I took some wonderful classes at Art Students League and at Minerva Durham’s Spring Studio. As I became more involved in the printmaking, drawing and sculpture series I was pursuing, I gradually stopped going to the classes.

But recently, I started to get a feeling that I wanted to do it again. Drawing the human figure is such a great challenge, and I especially love to do the quick poses - capturing the energy of what I am seeing in a very short time span.

Coincidentally, the wonderful artist and teacher Melanie Reim (see her site https://www.melaniereimart.com/ and instagram @melreim), who recently joined the New York Artists Circle1, posted on the listserve about a series of non-instructed drawing sessions which she was hosting in her studio. The vibe sounded fun, with many of the sessions having specific themes to them. Not only that, but the poses were all quick - 5 minutes and under.

I was nervous about doing this, as I knew I was rusty, but it seemed that this was the right place for me to go. I got some new drawing paper and put together a variety of pencils, a few conte crayons, and color sticks (like thick colored pencils) to take to the first class.

Melanie is a delightful and welcoming person, and I loved seeing some of her work on the walls of the studio as I entered. Above is one of her collages, which is even more beautiful in person.

The room was pretty full. Some people were sitting at tables, some at desks and some on the floor. There was clearly a wide range in age and level of experience. I love that. The model was a lovely and dramatic-looking young Asian woman named Bri (Instagram @chinny.cherry).

Inside my mind I said “Yikes, I guess I’m gonna do this!”

The poses were timed at intervals of 2 minutes up to 5 minutes, done in series adding up to about 20 minutes. For example, we started with 10 2-minute poses. I could feel my heart pounding fast right before I started. But once that timer started, I felt myself right in the center of the moment, as though my hand and pencil were following the energy of the lines and shapes the model was creating. I didn’t have time to worry about whether what I was doing was “good”, I was just striving to be there in that moment and capture what I was seeing. No time for erasing and correcting. You just go!

Melanie has music playing while we draw, which was enjoyable and helped me to feel more at ease.

Before I knew it, we were taking a 15 minute break in the middle of the class, and the second half of the class went even faster. Bri added a few accessories - a headband with flowers, a scarf, flowers wrapping around her ankles. I especially loved drawing the energy of the scarf flowing around her.

After the class, a young man in the class said he felt like he had just worked out at the gym, and I felt the same way. The energy and concentration and focus is intense! I threw most of my drawings from that first class away, but had to admit the drawings had come out better than I expected. I felt inspired and I wanted to do it again.

Of course, I was thinking of my mother so much in this class and in the subsequent sessions I have gone to. Even more so because this month, May, includes both Mother’s Day and my mom’s birthday . Her figure drawings are just amazing and are in every room of our apartment. Her sensitivity, sense of line, color, movement, emotion. Perfection.

Above and below are a couple of my mother’s beautiful drawings which inhabit our apartment, and which inspire me every day. I know that the drawing below was one of my mom’s favorites, in addition to being one of mine. I love the simplicity and flow and delicacy of the one above as well. Please see my two posts here and here to see more of my mother’s work and more about her and our relationship:)

The second class was “Disco Saturday”. I wore my shiny silver sneakers and a sparkly necklace to get in the proper mood. This time I brought some walnut ink and aquarelle crayons and pencils,2 so that I could work with some of the drawings with an ink wash and draw right into the wash. I was still nervous in the beginning but I was excited as well.

This time the model was Sarah Misch (@smischievous on Instagram). A lovely woman, she is an actress, dancer, and Pilates teacher. She does very energetic poses that often feel like they are in motion even though she is standing still.

The poses for the first half of the class were nude. For the second half of the class, she put on heart shaped shades, colorful bell bottom pants, a sparkly mesh top and sparkly gloves. Disco music was playing throughout, and there was some singing by the artists in the class too!

I was feeling much more comfortable than in the previous class, and I particularly enjoyed drawing the clothed poses. The highly-flared bell bottoms made interesting, dramatic shapes in addition to the shapes her body was making. I was also enjoying playing with the ink wash and how the aquarelle pencils and crayons were blending into the wash.

I ended up keeping more drawings this time - that seemed to be a good sign, ha ha!

I couldn’t wait to take the next class.

A couple of weeks later, the session had a beach theme. I wore one of my tshirt designs (pictured below, and available on my etsy here) with a cat in an inner tube in the water, with a little drink with an umbrella, and of course some of my shades (also on my etsy) embellished with cats and sparkles.

I brought watercolors in addition to the walnut ink, brushes, and aquarelle pencils and crayons which I had brought last time. I was excited to start to add some dashes of color.

This time, I still started out feeling nervous, but became more confident as I began making the quick brush strokes and bold lines that would come together in a drawing in under five minutes.

And I felt the drawings taking on another dimension as I began to add a bit of color to them.

We had beach and summer-themed songs playing throughout the session.

During a break, Sarah was reclining with a robe on, which I thought looked interesting, and I quickly sketched the following:

After the long break, Sarah did the remainder of the poses in beach attire and added some beach-themed props into the picture: a beach ball, an umbrella, wild shades, a beach hat (which made interesting different shapes at every angle).

She always exudes a sense of fun in her work, and I started getting a feeling of the beach as I continued drawing. The salty air, a warm breeze, bright sun and bold shadows.

I put the drawings aside til a few hours later, and this time around, only tossed out a few of the many drawings I did that day.

Melanie is doing one last session before a break for the summer, on June 1st. There isn’t a theme for that day, but there is a new model.

I look forward to new challenges each time I try this. Message Melanie (@melreim on Instagram) if you are interested in coming to the June 1st session, and follow the link on her website (click here) to join her mailing list to find out about future sessions, workshops and other activities, etc. Now I feel like I need to go to the beach soon!