Unleashing My Inner Picasso @ Flesh and Bones Life Drawing Class

On the 19th of September, almost 5 months after posting this, I received an email from Google AdSense saying I had violated their terms. My violation you ask? "We may not show Google ads on pages with content that is sexually suggestive or intended to sexually arouse. This includes, but is not limited to: pornographic images, videos, or games. Sexually gratifying text, images, audio, or video."

Do I think this is ridiculous? Yes. Why the world likes to act like we are not all born naked is beyond me. Will I be taking this post down? Absolutely not. Instead please enjoy my new updated images, an artistic series in their own right and be sure to comment below on whether you think AdSense are being unnecessarily extra or not by asking me to censor/remove this post. Enjoy! - J

This year I've become slightly obsessed with Hackney Picturehouse. I've given up on larger cinema chains and always find myself at my comfy chaired local instead. Plus they have a great selection of drinks and sweet potato fries on the menu. I knew they had a performance space upstairs but never checked it out until I randomly saw an art class scheduled whilst looking for a movie.

I took art at GCSE but I'm certainly no artist. However that didn't stop me wanting to cosy up to an easel and spend 2 hours pretending I know what I'm doing. I watched Titanic the night before and was absolutely buzzing to draw someone like one of Jack's French girls, so you can only imagine my glee when the model was actually wearing a statement necklace! If Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On had been playing on loop in the background I'd have officially been in Titanic heaven.

Basic supplies are provided in your ticket price. These include pencils, charcoal and quality A3 drawing paper. You have the choice of drawing at a table or an easel and are more then welcome to change position throughout the evening if you'd prefer a different view. I suggest arriving early to grab the seat you'd like most as seating is not assigned.

The model was positioned in the middle of the room and frequently changed poses for each draw. Rather then doing one pose for the entire 2 hour session we did different timed draws. First we started with 3 1 minute warm up exercises and then a 15 minute draw of one pose, before changing poses for a 20 minute draw and so on. In the middle of the session there was a 10 minute break to grab any drinks or snacks you'd like from the bar and have a little rest. Throughout the evening chill music was playing in the background creating a zen vibe and the curtains were open meaning I had the luxury of watching the pink sunset over town hall outside too.

Honestly I had no idea what I was doing for the entire session but it was fun and the first time in weeks that I managed to clear my mind. I completely zoned into the session and got lost in my attempts to capture the shadows and grooves of the models body. She had a great body for drawing! Wonderful hourglass shape and her hair was styled in a beautiful intricate braid. She was super friendly too and checked out everyone's drawings after.

(Mine are the first 2 below and the large body shot on the easel above. The middle 2 below are by my friend Deezus L Rand and the last below is by one of the ladies running the session)

Although I'm not a top artist I think I did pretty well! Genuinely a bit shocked that I managed to draw anything other then a stick man. Some of the other attendees created some amazing work and it was cool to walk around at the end and see different peoples perceptions of the same subject.

Normally Monday night is movie night for me but this was a great alternative evening out. £15 for 2 hours really isn't too bad either compared to the cost of most activities in London. The class is run by Flesh and Bones and you can find out all details including upcoming models on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/fleshandbones.lifedrawing.

Until next time, J xx

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