Remembering

Tonight I did something that I have not done in a long, long time: ten years, minimum.

oh hello nudity

Yep, I attended a life drawing session (as an artist, not a model- although it's been at least seven years since the latter, come to think of it).  And it was fabulous.

I felt nervous as I walked up to the studio- honestly I felt a little bit like a poser (pun entirely unintended).  My only comfort was my drawing board twisting in my hand as it flapped about in the evening wind- old smears of paint proved that I had some experience, at least.  But I was afraid I'd have lost it all.  I don't do much in the way of drawing-from-life these days, for multiple reasons.  For example, it's harder to get people to get naked for you once you're married- and my husband isn't much interested in posing for me.  Which leaves me with inanimate objects and just pfffffft to that.

(Seriously, why draw fruit when there are people in the world?)

But tonight's adventure was all about remedying that little problem.

The model walked in and for a moment I felt a blink of surprise- I'd spent all day envisioning a woman, and yet what was in front of me was a tall, lanky male model.  And then I laughed at myself because oh yeah duh, dudes hire out as models, too, not just long-haired females.

Fortunately for me and my tremulous return to life-drawing, this guy was fantastic.  His warm-up poses were so dynamic and beautiful.  He was just beautiful, all the long, clean lines of his body.  I could have spent hours drawing the sharp edges of his ribcage and hip bones.  I guess I did, technically...  I kept finding myself shivering with the raw pleasure of the experience, of looking at a nude body and moving my pen across paper and having a figure appear.  I'd forgotten how viscerally satisfying it is, the sweep and flow of the human form when viewed as art.

It took a while, but it did come back to me.  I lost myself to that special meditative state that psychologists call "flow", and my body remembered the things my brain was afraid it had forgotten.  I was pleased enough with my final 35 minute drawing (the pencil).  Pleased enough that I was irritated that I wasn't going to get a chance to finish it.

Guess I'll have to go back.  Maybe with charcoal, next time, or conte crayon...