Saturday, February 04, 2023

Short Pose Monday 6th and Long Pose Wednesday 8th. Exhibition Announcement.


Short Pose:
Our next short pose model is Rony Caldavid on Monday the 6th of February.
Rony is a master male model with years of experience in art academies and burlesque performance.


Followed on Wednesday evening, the 8th of February with the long pose modeled by Ewelina. The long poses afford the opportunity to paint as well as draw. Several people are using watercolors and others pastels and some easels are available.




Social Life Drawing Exhibition:

Good news. The Sotto al British have agreed to let us show our figurative works in the drawing space for 2 weeks this March. This isn’t a profit making event and the Sotto al British have kindly offered to let us have the space for a very low cost as long as the we do not require any employees of the institute to take part in the administration or maintenance of the event.

We don’t have a budget for refreshments so participants are requested to contribute wine and food for the opening and the final day of the show to share with guests and each other. Guests are also encouraged to contribute, as if you were coming to a party.

The works can hang for 2 weeks on the walls of the space but will be open for public/guest viewing for the first and last days of the show. In the meantime they will be visible to participants of private and public events which take place within the exhibition area, during the day and evenings. If you want to sell your works negotiations will be between the buyer and seller and no commission will be taken by the institute. So your contact details should be clearly listed. Labels will be organized and placed under the art before the opening.

This event is still evolving so details may change.


When: Last two weeks in March 2023
Where: In the Sotto al British
Who: Anyone who has participated in the life drawing, short or long poses, in the last 6 months at Sotto al British.
What: You can exhibit at least one drawing or painting which involves figurative work. The work can be done in this location or another but must be done by participants of the Sotto al British.
How: By reserving your place on a list of participants at the life drawing group. Just sign the list with your name, contact details, email / telephone number. How many pieces you would like to show. Approximate size of the framed work. When I know how many people are participating a decision can be made on how many pieces of art each person can show.
How Much: The cost of showing will be determined based on how many people are taking place and should be paid when the art is delivered for hanging. I’m estimating about €20 per person.
Deadline: Sign up as soon as possible but no later than the end of February. Presentation method: All pieces should be framed if they are a drawing. Paintings can be hung without a frame as long as they are on stretcher bars. All frames and stretcher bars should have a string loop or hook at the left and right side of the back of the frame/bars for a string to be hung through.
Volunteers: There isn’t a need for a lot of help with the event but anyone willing to take part should please make themselves known when they register to exhibit by placing ‘Volunteering’ beside their name when they register.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Short Drawing Poses on the 30th of January, Florence Italy

Hi
This was a good week of drawing and some lovely pieces were produced at both the short and long drawing events. The long pose is turning into a painting group with several people doing watercolour studies. Our male model on Wednesday was pretty good, a young David and he will pose for us again this coming Monday evening on the 30th of January. Mondays are for short poses.
This Monday 30th of January, the male model will pose for: 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 minutes & finishes with 2 x 25 minute poses. This would be a good time to bring your more expressive drawing media with you. Suggested donation: €10 cash or more. Tips for the model gratefully accepted.
From 7 - 9pm.
Address: Lungarno Guicciardini, 15, 50125 Firenze.

There is no long pose this week.

See you there.
Tom

Friday, January 20, 2023

One year of Life Drawing in Florence, Italy

 

The first year of Florence's Social Life Drawing has been a real success. Thanks to everyone who participates. We are fortunate to have the help of two art patrons and wonderful attendees in this process. A central, warm location great lighting. Decent heating, comfortable seating and the props necessary for good poses. Thank you, to the British Institute and to John Hoenig for the support in growing this creative community.

 

 

 

You can find us at Lungarno Guicciardini, 15, 50125 Firenze. Ground floor entrance. 

 

The life drawing group is not a school and there are no lessons involved. So no systems or styles of drawing are imposed. Each person does their own thing and if they are so inclined, encourages others to understand why they are drawing in a particular manner. So there is a lot of friendly discussion, banter and debate about the drawings & sketches we produce. Some participants are academically trained and just want to keep up their practice with a convenient model in a social setting while others are exploring the process of creating. At the end of the sessions people share a glass of wine together and cluster, sometimes to look at each others work or just to chat.
 


There are some great people who attend and then there’s me, notoriously grumpy and keeping to myself as I limp my way around the studio. Despite that I do enjoy the company of almost everyone. It’s a challenge to get people to come out of their comfort zones so I don’t try. Everyone is free to just evolve or not, as they wish. 


There is no overall purpose to these drawing events but they are an opportunity to download stuff from the back of the brain and make marks on paper without an obligation to conform. So professionals and experimenters can mix easily.

                                                         
There are two regular evenings.

Monday, every week:
The Monday evenings are every week from 7-9pm and consists of short poses. The short poses begin with a series of 1 minute poses followed by longer and longer ones, eventually working up to 2 x 25 minutes at the end. Some really dynamic pieces have come out of this and there’s a nice energy created in the process.

Drawing by Nele Sadlo
Drawing by Jan Frankin



Wednesday, 1st and 3rd week of each month:
There is also a Wednesday evening event of long poses. This is twice per month and is for people who are more focused, drawing the model in just one position for 2 hours. Both events are brilliant and the long poses give people the opportunity to study things like the portrait, hands, feet or overall posture.

Drawing by Tom J. Byrne
       Drawing by Paul Martini


Both events have a suggested donation of €10, or more if you like and we encourage people to leave a tip for the hard working model, depending on how happy you are with the poses. Materials are not included, so bring along your favorite papers and drawing materials. There are some easels for those who want them.

Our models are both male and female and are professional. Many work for the various art schools in Florence. I’ve been inviting mostly female models because they are easier to find but after many requests I’ll be including more, reliable male models too. 

Drawing by Nele Sadlo

Drawing by Diane Sugalski