Life Drawing Me Forward

Kroeber Hall, U.C. Berkeley home of the
Anthropology Department, the Phoebe
Hearst Museum of Anthroology and rooms
for art practice.

Encouraged by Sketchbook Skooler Margo Rivera-Weiss, last Saturday I got my 70 year old self to the

University of California, Berkeley to Kroeber Hall for a life drawing class. Since the last half of the 1980's when I went to one in Pleasanton, this would be the first. Such classes present an opportunity to draw something quickly, to capture an image fast.  Possibly due to mild brain damage from a birth condition, I've never been fast at anything naturally. Fast is challenging for me.




Wooden art horse seat

When I arrived at the class, minutes late rather than wisely early, Margo was  there.  So was Lynn Cohen, another SBS klassmate who came down all the way from Vacaville.  A third, a man from Sketchbook Skool, admitted to having attended but he did not seek out the rest of us then.  We'll track him down in future.

First drawing

The room was a bare bones, well used working studio, packed with students of all colors and ages.  Some tables were pushed together in the center with a cloth tossed over them for the model. Other tables made a rectangle around that.  Tall easels stood at the edge of the room. Some tall stools, a few art stools and wooden art horse seats were there.  The wooden art horses were much older, paint spattered and well used than the one in the photograph and, for us who are over 55, pretty uncomfortable to sit on.  We Sketchbook Skoolers who were so equipped brought portable folding stools, which are as necessary as sun hats when sketching outdoors.  Mine will be delivered today so I'll be saved from standing and leaning over the whole time as I did on this first visit.

The night before, I contemplated what media and what sketchbook or paper I wanted to use. In the past, life classes meant huge newsprint pads, pencil or charcoal.  In Pleasanton though I'd seen a few artists triumphantly working in oil or acrylic paint so I was emboldened to stick with watercolor and pen to see what I could capture.  In the Beginnings kourse in Sketchbook Skool Danny Gregory had demonstrated a sketch of his son's shoe using a patch of solid gouache color with a more detailed drawing of the shoe on top of that. In another class and demonstration dubbed "Fast and Slow," Danny encouraged making that same solid underpainting (fast) with a detailed drawing (slow) over it. 

I was sure that I would not produce anything detailed from 5 minute or even 20 minute poses, but I decided to try a quick wash in brown or blue with a line drawing over it.  I didn't have quick drying acrylic gouache and my watercolor wash was a bit slow to dry and so I tried putting down more color and blotting much of the water away with my towel.  It worked pretty well and I got better over the hour and a half I was there. Since I don't like the paper in the new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, I used that sketchbook for the life drawing work.  I've been avoiding using it.  It's pretty pricey so it felt good to have found a use for it.

Last sketch

I needed to leave halfway through the class because I had a memorial service to attend in Oakland.  I was happy to find a huge sink in a narrow room adjoining where we were sketching so I could wash out my brushes. I had brought real brushes rather than the waterbrushes I had used for sketching.

My early exit meant I did not experience the 20 minute sketch. That's an opportunity in my future.

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