Life Drawing Session with Nela at Raid Gallery

I did a life drawing session at Raid Gallery and the model was Nela. It had been a really long time since I'd been to a life drawing class and I was nervous. It was my first time visiting this particular class and I didn't know anyone there. 

At the end I ended up talking to a bunch of welcoming artists. One man was doing really quick sculptures the whole time - they were very cool, and seeing what he made with plasticene in such a short period of time was really impressive.  I also met two women who were attending their first life drawing class, drawn there by curiosity rather than artistic practice. Their courage to try something new was inspiring.

Nela was a fantastic model. Her poses were interesting. She was confident and clearly seemed to be having a lot of fun. Each pose told its own story.

At one point she started asking the room for characters she could channel for her poses and for one of them, I blurted out Baba Yaga. While others had suggested ethereal creatures like water dryads and mermaids, I wanted to see something more characterful and contorted. And Nela met the brief and then some. 

She hunched her back and made angry faces, though she channelled something grotesque, her natural beauty still shone through in my drawings, creating an intriguing contrast.

For her final pose, she maintained direct eye contact with me - or at least it felt that way, she was probably staring at a spot just above my head. But it still made me a little uncomfortable. I'm used to there being a kind of invisible wall between me and the model and by doing this she broke it. I felt like I was the one being watched and drawn. And frankly I didn't like that. But I'm also very firmly comfortable being behind the canvas or camera or stage. I prefer to look out at the world rather than having it look at me. 

She did a very imposing pose at the same time and I did my best to capture it. It reminded me of a samurai Warrior because of the kimono she was wearing. 

I still drew her pretty because that is my way. But I think having that as a reference I could always exaggerate the features if I wanted to make something a little more grotesque.