I've been drawing from life regularly for nearly two years now, since I've started having weekly drawing sessions in my home. But I'm still not getting the kind of experience I need from it. (Actually, I have drawn from life sporadically for 30 years, but consistently for two.)
The weekly sessions quickly turned into social events. Models and artists talk non stop, and no serious work gets done (though I've done some drawings I have been pleased with). After drawing one model recently, I asked if she would be returning. She said "Sure, any excuse to talk my head off!" I think I almost cracked two back teeth.
Well, we have this one model who is not a talker. I've only drawn her a few times, and every time I've been very pleased with her professionalism. I figured if I could have her to myself, with no other artists yacking away, we could work well together. So I offered her a hundred bucks to come to my house today and spend the entire day posing, and not talking. I think her heart really was in it, but her body wasn't. She had been up with her baby all night and didn't get any sleep. She was constantly nodding off, and yawning. I told her that maybe we could to this some other time, and she swore she was okay, but after another hour it was clear she couldn't do it. I paid her for her time and sent her home. (I'm so naive. I thought an audiobook would help her stay interested, so I got "Searching for Bobby Fischer" from the library. Yeah, like a book about chess would hold a 21-year-old's attention
)
Do the rest of you have problems like this? It seems like it's impossible to have the kind of life-drawing session that can be productive. Granted, I live in a small Southern town, and the models don't understand much about what we need, but this is ridiculous.