Drawing

 

I have loved drawing nudes for as long as I have been an artist. It is an age-old practice in western art. Art history books are full of them. Some of the most famous museum pieces in the world are “au naturel”. The most impressive I have seen in person is Michelangelo’s colossal sculpture in Florence, Italy, called David. 

 The drawing group I attend on Tuesday nights is devoted to figures. A model of either sex takes poses for three hours. This particular group likes mostly short “gesture” poses lasting from 1-10 minutes.

When I am drawing a gesture pose, my skills from years of study are used fluidly and instinctively. I don’t have time to worry about mistakes—or correcting anything. It  is all impulse.










The longest pose is about forty minutes. Then I can gauge proportions, study foreshortening, make corrections and take time shading.

What greater art is there than the human form?

Steven Boone Fine Art

Poses

I wondered if I could draw the figure—it has been so long since I last was in a drawing group. I went Tuesday night and the regulars at the studio were surprised to see me. Our model was a young woman named Maribou, who I have drawn many times. Without much effort, the artwork came . . . as if my brain had been longing to get back to it. I have been drawing for four decades and made a thousand figure sketches.

It is the same when I go skiing in winter—I wonder if I will fall on my face going down the slope . . . because I had not been practicing.

This group likes to mix up the poses in short bursts of time during the three hour session. The poses range from 2 - 45 minutes. The participants are evenly divided between women and men. Most models are female, but men model too. 

Some groups follow a strict code of silence during work, but these people carry conversations while drawing; about art and culture, and occasionally personal stuff. I usually chime right in, it is part of the fun.

The Artist And The Model

When I first set eyes on my wife Lori, she was undressing to pose nude. I was in a drawing group of about ten people. During the next three hours, she took about ten poses with three five minute breaks between sessions. 

I had recently returned from world travel, and now was getting back to my regular practice of drawing weekly. Over the next few months, I had occasion to draw Lori again, and eventually, the hand of fate drew us together—to become husband and wife.

Last night, we went to a movie called, The Artist And The Model, about an aging artist living in a secluded mountain village in southern France during the second world war. His wife brings home a destitute young woman who lives with them and becomes the sculptor's model. Lori and I sat arm in arm in the theater, watching scenes unfold that were familiar to both of us. 

Lori continues to model, with the agreement that it be for groups only—no private sessions with men. I draw as usual, and over the years have made thousands of figure drawings. It is life.