ISOLATION ARTIST BLOG - DAY 29

Now the only way I can differentiate one day from another is:

Thursday - Bins are emptied 
Monday- Bed is changed
Saturday - Buy a newspaper

These are the kind of things that I wouldn't normally pay much attention to. In a nano second, my diary has gone from jam packed to empty. One benefit is that I'm working in a different way with watercolour. This wouldn't happen with a jam packed diary. It's really nice not having that pressure on my head.

Today we were supposed to be Life Drawing with the Bournemouth Arts Club at the Arts University Bournemouth in their fantastic drawing studio. I hope we can rearrange this as it's such a treat to draw from life all day. My first job after I left Art School was as a part time Art lecturer in College. Here I taught Life Drawing once a week and used to love setting different poses, timings, and getting students to use different materials. When I went to Reading University in 1980, to study painting for four years we weren't allowed to do Life Drawing. This was an outdated overhang from our tutors days at Art school when they were expected to draw from life just about all week long. So they thought it would be best if we did none. At first we organised our own Life Drawing and eventually some classes were laid on for those who wanted them. Anthony Frost, one of Terry Frost's sons, came down from Cornwall for a week to teach us Life Drawing. This was absolutely fantastic - not just because we could draw from life but Tony's energy and enthusiasm were infectious. He would stomp round the room in his heavy boots, keeping the energy high. 

I was reading in the newspaper that 45 minutes of drawing, or any other similar creative activity, is very good for your mental health. Apparently it releases endorphins that boost your mood. The picture today is from painting I did at the beach in Cornwall - happy people at the seaside and happy me drawing from life.

Happy weekend.