HI FROM ME, CLAUDIA 

WHAT CAN I EXPECT ONCE I'M IN THE ART STUDIO?

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The facilitator (me) will be around, looking out for new comers. 

You'll receive a warm, friendly welcome and a brief informal chat with me about your experience, expectations, fear and hopes for the session.

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I encourage artists to arrive 15 mins before we start, so you can relax into the space - the kettle has normally just boiled and there is time to get organised so we can maximise the drawing time.

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I only use professional experienced models - you'll spot them wandering around - generally the one in a dressing gown... The majority of our models are artists themselves, so will be interested to chat and connect with you.

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Sessions start promptly on the hour - the model will be fully naked – aged anywhere between 20 and 70 years old, male or female and sporting a variety of builds and body types. They’ll be posing in the middle of the room with artists standing or sitting in a wide circle around them with easels or sketch pads.

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The atmosphere is calm and tranquil and the people are generally pretty relaxed. You will be part of a diverse mix of artist skills and experience. I feel passionately that there is room for all - that regardless of experience we can all learn from one another. If you haven't picked up a drawing tool since school - or you are a professional artist; we can accommodate you.

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I tend to incorporate music within my sessions, so there may well be music playing as you arrive. 

Much of the time music will play during the session also. This may be calm classics or upbeat tempos -  what ever will compliment the theme and pose focus. 

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I vary the format and focus of my sessions regularly; though the general structure stays the same. 

• The class starts with a series of warm up poses.

• Then you’ll practise with quick poses. The model will hold a pose for  2-5 minutes 

• Then the poses get longer - 10, 15, 20min and you'll have the opportunity to focus on a longer study (maybe 40- 50 minutes - as part of an evening session; longer on a day session)

 

The model can hold more challenging poses when it’s just 2-5 minutes, but for the long poses will have to do something less strenuous. That’s why they’re often sitting or lying down for the long poses.

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The session is organised so that you can choose to follow tutor suggestions or follow your own agenda.  I will often suggest exercises to practise specific skills – for example drawing the figure without looking at the paper at all; focusing on negative space; honing proportion skills; exploring qualities of line... 

 

The idea of these exercises is not to produce beautiful work, so you needn’t be worried about getting it ‘right’. The point is that these different ways of practising train your ability to observe the figure with fresh eyes- drawing what we see, not what we think we see.

 

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