Figure Drawing

Medusa and I took a figure drawing class together and it was fan-fucking-tastic. It was hard at first to get into the mind that right in front of me was a naked person and that I shouldn't think about drawing the body but drawing shapes, shadows and lines, not the body as a whole. We had this lovely teacher from West Virginia with a sultry accent. And boy oh boy did he know his shit and he had the most fascinating stories. And he called us many silly names but mainly he stuck with Thelma and Louise and we ate it up every time. He also had these silly analogies, "would you canoe without an ore? Then don't draw like that" Hahahaha, never made any sense but we sure as shit listened to every word he said.

Back to the naked bodies. I crave naked bodies. I need naked bodies. I just want to draw everyone, seriously, it was that good. First we did quick gestural sketches and then moved into thirty minute drawings and by the end of the semester we were doing three hour long poses. It may have been my favorite class. Most days it was relaxing, some days it was irritating not to mention our room was a sauna. But he taught me that you cannot get attached to everything you produce. You need to tweek it, you need to throw it away, you need to let go because the next one is probably going to be even better and if it isn't, the one after that will be. It is a lovely art and I should have been drawing from photos until I found another willing body because I have lost the groove, but with practice I will get it back. My band teacher in middle school always said "practice makes perfect" and I hated it and I hated him because I could have cared less about playing the damn trumpet because where was that going to get me? Haha, I should have been thinking about that when I decided art was going to be my calling. But maybe you can't decide that, maybe it chooses you.

Merriweather