Tranquility

A spoonful of serenity

At the end of last year I heard from many of my friends that I wasn’t myself. They thought I was sad, depressed and withdrawn. Hearing this not once, but multiple times made me think it was time to restart my outlook on life, so in 2018 I decided my new years resolution was to make new friends and try new things.

First month in and I decided to try Life Drawing. I’ve never done art before, and I’m quite self conscious about my body, but something about drawing relaxes me. So I made a new friend from some recent shindigs I attended over the summer and asked if she wanted to come along. She was keen, but asked me not to laugh at her because she hasn’t done art in years. My face fell. I’ve never done art - ever. 

It was a random cold day in Melbourne, so I rugged up before heading to the studio. Walking upstairs you could feel the warmth of the stage lights and smell the sweet scent of tea and chocolate - I was already in my happy place. We paid our entry and donated a gold coin to use their art supplies since we were both novices. I asked which art supplies they recommended and a girl in a night gown answered me - seeing her attire I asked if she was the model for tonight. She nodded, and then I realised I didn’t know what else to say. "Good luck" and "Oh how exciting" all seemed very inappropriate so I smiled, held up my crayons and said, "This is my first time". She laughed, and I walked away mortified.

We chose our seats which circled a white mattress and looked around the studio. There were a good 30 others around the room - all varied in ages - a lot of white haired men, young men with braids and beards, and a few women ranging from their 20s to late 40s.

As this week’s model was a yoga instructor, each pose would contain a yoga pose. This lesson was an untutored class so we were just told of the timings of each pose. The first few poses were a minute each, then we had two, two minute poses, a five minute pose and then a 10 minute pose before we paused for a break. 

The first few poses were so quick I could barely finish the model’s outline. The tricky thing about yoga poses was the way the body bent. I’m certainly no yoga guru, and probably one of the most inflexible people I know, so not only was I lost in drawing these unknown shapes, I was also slightly in awe with the way the body bent. It was fair to say I learned more than drawing that night.

During the break we go to see glimpses of other people’s work - some were realistic, some just shapes and some looked like a photograph. After the break I felt myself gain more confidence. We had two more poses to go, a 15 minute and a 30 minute pose. The model laid down for these last two poses, making it difficult to draw from my particular angle but I gave it a crack and realised - it was all perspective. No matter if I was at the front, back, side or above - each piece would be different - and each person would see something different. I didn’t realise how true this was until the end of the session and we were able to see other people’s work. You saw how other’s in the room captured the model’s style, grace, power and in some cases vulnerability. 

Life drawing was an incredible experience - it gave me a sense of freedom. Being able to see how someone sees you through their eyes is comforting and uplifting. I had a sense of peace after the whole experience - I felt calm, yet refreshed and couldn’t wait until my next experience. 

For those of you searching for some serenity in their lives - try life drawing, you will be pleasantly surprised.