3rd entry for April 25, 2010

These were two 15-minute poses below, and two 20-minute poses above.
I felt that D- was doing a good job in her modelling work - she held poses well, but they were less athletically taxing than what some models will take. Which is not to say that they arent hard work all the same.

My financial resources being limited, I make use quite a bit of shared drawing spaces, which brings in a variety of variables I wouldn't experience working one-on-one. Open drawing sessions are an interesting group inasmuch as people are collected not so much to interact with each other (though that is a part of the appeal for many), but rather to interact with their drawings and the spectacle of the person modelling. We're like so many spokes around a bicycle hub in a space. But often it seems like we all operate like we're in bubbles, where our sounds and actions have no effect on the rest of the space.

I was a little displeased with a number of my fellow drawers that night, who made a gradual exodus over the last half-hour, especially during the kneeling pose that closed the night (the topmost image). people leaving early is a pet peeve of mine for two reasons. First, I know that the person posing can hear all the rustling and scraping and walking out, even if they can't see them. I can't help feeling that that is a liittle demoralising and focus-breaking to know that your work isn't holding people's attention.
Secondly, from my drawing perspective, the end of a session is when I am most focussed and engrossed in the activity, and the noises of people leaving can break that spell. Unfortunately, the most likely time people want to leave is at the last 5 or 10 minutes, when I'm rushing to try to set down as much as I can before the evening ends.

People have lots of reasons for needing to leave, and sometimes it's unavoidable. But I can't help thinking most of them could wait 10 minutes or so. If not, I think it would be better if people leave when breaks are happening, to be less distracting. Moreover, I feel like one cannot exhaust the potential of any person in twenty minutes There are other short studies that could be done, or practice drills attempted, or alternate compositions tried. It puzzles me that people don't try more of that if they feel they've finished a particular study.

But I am also far from perfect, and I have to acknowledge that I am chronically tardy in arriving, and my getting set up may well be as distracting to someone else's spell as their leaving is to mine. I do strive to be as quiet as possible when arriving, or wait til there's a pause if the space is too crowded to easily set up.

So the moral is, I should strive to be more punctual in my activities, and we all need to remember to be as respectful as possible to our models and each other in shared spaces. And if one does have to arrive or leave early, don't spend 15 minutes rustling papers and heavy plastic bags while people are working!