Life Drawing In Glasgow

The above clearly is a painting, not a drawing, but was done at Wasps Studios Thursday Life Drawing Group.

It occured to me that I have been to lots of life drawing around Glasgow over the years, and it might be useful to you folks out there if I listed a few of the untutored, drop in groups.

My favourite still has to be the Friday group at Wasp's Hanson St, which runs from 1:30pm till 4:30pm, with a break for tea in the middle. This is the group that really encouraged me and set me on the path of being a professional painter - I cannot thank them enough.

But these days I can't go on Fridays, so have started going on Thursday mornings instead to Pam's group. This also runs in the big room on the right and often has the same models, but tends towards longer poses - perfect for painting. There is also cake and much chat.

All of these groups tend to be around seven pounds - to cover room hire and the cost of the model.

A cheaper option at four quid (but only two hours, not three) is All The Young Nudes at the Flying Duck every Tuesday night from 8pm. Being in a bar, there is booze - always a bit of a plus - but sadly as I normally drive there (there is a car park is just round the corner) I stick to the mugs of tea. There is a much younger, more informal group here - lots of student types - and a very wide range of ability and experience. Much effort is put into the music playlists, which is sadly lost on me as I'm a bit deaf. Oh well.

Another fun option is Dr Sketchy's monthly at the Tron. Must admit I've not been for a while, but they let you take photographs which was brilliant for figuring out stuff in the early stages. Also, the models normally do a bit of a burlesque routine which again tends to be a little lost on me but I can see the appeal.

Sandy is an amazing teacher (who first got me using oils) who runs both tutored and untutored classes in the Botanics - very handy for me - the Sunday afternoon four hour poses are especially useful and I'm glad to see more oil painters coming along to it now!

These are all the ones I have personally attended - please comment if you know any others.

Dr Sketchy New York

A visit to New York without visiting Dr Sketchy's seemed unthinkable, so I duly went on my last Sunday.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs - the main reason I attend Dr Sketchy's here in Glasgow.

A couple of years ago, when I was a newbie oil painter, I really needed photographic reference of faces and bodies to work from. I was still too unsure of myself (and skint) to hire a model, even if I had known one available. Dr Sketchy's was the answer, and when attending regularly I met lots of interesting people who are now friends - including, of course, Fiona Wilson

Not only were we not allowed photographs, there were an awful lot of very quick poses. That can be interesting, if you have the right media with you (the watercolour would have been fine, but the paper was far too thin for using a brush) and if the model holds lots of different, athletic poses. This one didn't - they were all variations of her lying or sitting on the table, with her head almost always turned in one direction. Even worse, although her costume was lovely, it covered a lot of skin as well as her hair, with virtually no bony landmarks visible. For some reason, I like to start with the clavicles, which generally weren't visible - or even guessable!

So I left. Terribly rude, and very disappointing, but I was pretty tired and had packing to do for the trip home the next day.

Oh well. Maybe next time. Meanwhile I am thinking about revisiting some of those old reference photographs.

The Goddess

When I was talking to this lady (Hannah La Rouge), she was telling me that she loved modelling as she felt like a goddess standing up on the stage, with all eyes on her. She was so passionate and enthusiastic, she almost made me want to go up there with her!
This, despite my always having suffered badly from stage fright, even to the stage of having real trouble recording a message for my phone. So, if you get an automated reply, yes, it probably is me. Sorry.
Although, oddly enough, I do like talking with people one-to-one, so if you see me out and about, please say hi. And ignore me going bright pink . . .