Life class position

Eduarda was a truly lovely-looking Mexican girl, late twenties, married with a young daughter – what she was doing in Middlesbrough goodness only knows. However we were just glad she was our current life model since not only did she have a good body to draw she had an eagerness and a talent for theatrical poses, frequently bringing in shawls and cushions and other props. She was also totally uninhibited, wandering round to look at everyone’s work without bothering to put on a wrap of any sort.

This being England everyone who came to the evening Life Drawing class always sat in exactly the same place as they’d sat last week, and the week before that, for ever and ever amen. And there being considerably more women than men in the class, the men tended to sit together in one corner.
On the sixth week the men arrived early and deliberately positioned themselves one on each side of the room – north, south east and west – and when we asked why they said they’d noticed that when they sat together the tutor invariably posed Eduarda with her back to them: this way they’d get a turn at drawing her front, sooner or later.

Life models

Previously we’d had as life models two anorexic Scottish girls, pastry plain Geraldine who invariably refused to take her knickers off, Eduarda the gorgeous and totally uninhibited Mexican and a beautifully plump dance teacher whose sagging, dimpled flesh was an absolute joy to draw. The only male had been Bill, who inevitably wore a posing pouch.

Bob the milkman’s well-hung willingness to pose as nature intended was, therefore, unusual, and much welcomed. In his first class with us he was instructed to walk round inside the circle of easels we had formed, taking five steps and then stopping for one minute – we were to draw all views on the single sheet. He took an interest in what each of us made of the exercise, commenting and encouraging sotto voce. On reaching me for the third time he suggested perhaps some aspects of my drawing weren’t entirely accurate - it was hard to resist reaching out with my pencil and re-arranging him to suit.