I had an interesting experience at last night’s life-drawing class. For some months now I have been toying with the idea of doing some pictures based on the experience of quarantine during the current pandemic. I did a set of sketches, but took the idea no further. The primary reason was that all of them involved human figures, and I am aware that often my figure drawing can be rather weak. (Hence my attendance at the class.) I did experiment with a wooden mannikin, but the results were no better than if I had worked from my imagination. So the project was shelved.
As soon as the model took up her position last night I thought, “Yes: that is it!” She has the ability that is often missing with models, of conveying the sense of a meaningful action in process, rather than just a pose that has been adopted. That is exactly what I would hope for from a model. In the interval half-way through the class I asked her if she accepted commissions, and explained the idea very briefly, and we exchanged email addresses. Today I decided that if I am going to do anything at all with this project, this is the way forward. So I sent her a message outlining in a little more detail what I had in mind, and some suggestions about the way we could work. I also had to check out her fee, of course, which is a consideration I have never previously had to address.
I thought that if I don’t take myself seriously then I can’t expect anybody else to do so. It will be interesting to see how it all develops.