Life Drawing at Pearl and Groove #3

I love life drawing! It is great to practice your skills, challenge yourself and unwind in a creative and relaxing environment. I joined Bella Franks, artist and life drawing tutor at the delicious Notting Hill bakery, Pearl and Groove for an evening class. I have been to a number of Bella's classes in 2016 (#1 and #2)

Bella always makes you feel at ease, curates a fab playlist to draw along to and has a gorgeous array of life model contacts. Last night's model (Sangfrid? I think) was amazing and posed with such grace and beauty. She really pushed our drawing skills further with some very unique and interesting poses.

We started with a warm-up of a 5-minute sketch then moved onto more sustained 20-minute drawings. I began the evening in monotone with willow charcoal and moved towards more expressive colours in Promarkers, pencil crayons and chalk pastels towards the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the added bonus of a Pearl and Groove gluten-free Blueberry cake at halftime was very yummy!

5-minute sketch with willow charcoal

10-minute sketch with compressed charcoal

20-minute sketch with willow charcoal with red and yellow chalk pastels

20-minute sketch with Promarker pen, blue, red, yellow chalk pastel and blue pencil crayons

10-minute sketch with blue, red and yellow pencil crayons and blue and yellow chalk pastels

5-minute sketch with blue pencil crayon and blue chalk pastel

National Portrait Gallery and Pearl & Groove Life Drawing

I enjoyed a very creative afternoon with my friend Alex yesterday starting at the National Portrait Gallery to see the BP Portrait Award exhibition and ending the evening with a figure drawing class.

The prize winning paintings at the National Portrait Gallery were interesting and I was particularly moved by the second place prize winner, Silence by Bo Wang (centre image below).
It is a striking portrait of his grandmother who was in the final stages of terminal cancer. I certainly had an emotional response to this painting especially after reading the artist's thoughts behind the piece.

The first prize portrait by Clara Drummond of her artist friend Kirsty Buchanan entitled Girl in a Liberty Dress had an interesting connection having just visited the William Morris Gallery last week. Both artists were working on an exhibition with the William Morris Society Archives and you can see the influence of his colour palette and intense pattern details in this work.

Admission to the BP Portrait Awards exhibition is free and runs until the 4th September at the National Portrait Gallery.

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We made our way to Portobello Road for 7pm to attend a life drawing class lead by artist Bella Franks at Pearl & Groove bakery. This is my second drawing class at P&G with Bella who is an enthusiastic and friendly host for the evening.
The model Vanessa, was also a dancer as could tell from her beautiful and elegant poses. A 20 minute break at half time gives you chance to enjoy some of the gorgeous cakes the Pearl & Groove girls make - this time it was a sweet and delicious Pistachio and Rose cake. Very yummy indeed.

Here are my sketches in graphite pencil and charcoal. The longest pose was 25 minutes and the majority were 3 minute - 10 minute poses.

Quick 3 minute warm-up sketch 4b pencil

20 minute study 4b pencil

Tools down - its break time! 25 minute study in charcoal

20 minute sketch in charcoal

15 minute study in charcoal

I thoroughly enjoyed my creative evening and would certainly return for another life drawing class at Pearl & Groove.
The next events are on the following dates at this lovely venue:
Wednesday 10th August
Wednesday 24th August

Life Drawing at Pearl & Groove

I always loved life drawing at art school in the 1990's but it isn't something I have managed to do much of since working full time. During a completely unrelated Google search for cake in Notting Hill I discovered the wonders of a delicious bakery called Pearl and Groove. Situated at the far end of Portabello Road this divine little bakery sells the most scrumptious cakes that just so happen to be gluten-free with some refined sugar and wheat-free options too.

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Anyway, back to the life drawing classes. There I was surfing the Pearl and Groove website and clicked onto the events page where I found the perfect event: A life drawing class with a little cake break!
I haven't done a life drawing class since the summer of 2014 during Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School cabaret event and knew I would be a little rusty. In order to not go alone I booked two tickets and invited my artist friend Blaze Cyan along too.

The class was organised by artist Bella Franks who runs life drawing classes in unusual venues all around London. Bella was a fun and vibrant host and the life model was beautiful.
The event ran from 7pm - 9pm with a series of quick 2-3 minute poses to get warmed up, progressing to longer 20-30 minute poses later on.

20 minute study using willow charcoal

Five minute studies with willow charcoal

Cake and prosecco was served during a 20 minute break which was very absolutely lovely (I had water instead of prosecco). I chose a Banana Banoffee cake whereas Blaze selected the Rose and Earl Grey Tea cake.

I am definitely going to return to another life drawing class at Pearl and Groove.
The next events are on the 26th July, 10th August and 24th August. Does anybody want to join me on the next drawing class?