by Stephanie Staples | photos by Amanda Cribdon Photography –
I opened the email from a friend, unsuspectingly. “Would you be interested in posing for the Sidney Shoal Portrait Painters (SSPP) group? It takes place every Tuesday afternoon and you sit for approximately two hours. It’s a great experience and I think your beautiful features would be great to render in a portrait. Let me know.”
“Lol umm, no, absolutely not,” was my first thought.
Just thinking of doing that gave me the heebie-jeebies – but then when I get the heebie-jeebies, I usually know it means it’s something that I have to try.
Life is about experiences, after all, and this would most certainly be a new one. So after confirming that this was not a “figures” (sans clothes) experience, I said yes and then quickly decided to bring Seaside Magazine along for the ride!
I don’t think I’ve ever sat still for two hours in a row, but armed with one ear-bud to play a peaceful meditation while I sat, I committed to the process.
This particular Tuesday, five artists sat at individual card tables with their various mediums. After some welcome chit chat, it was go time! Perched upon the comfortable bar stool, in front of a backdrop with a bright light pointed in my direction, I sat with the instruction to keep my eyes on the “x” on the back wall. The room become library quiet as the artists took focus and fell deeper into their work. It was so quiet, I could hear the ticking of the clock and the strokes of their pencils. Some took a picture of me, one had binoculars and all had their eyes darting up and down from their pages to me and back again.
It was the oddest feeling being stared at like that, not making eye contact with them and the X not responding to my stares either.
Joanne Helm “inherited” the group a few years back and kindly checked in often to see if I needed a break and even bought me a cookie at “intermission.” The folks attending this open-to-anyone-drop-in-session told me that they really appreciated the camaraderie of the group and the accountability of creating art weekly, when if left to their own devices their art often takes a backseat to life.
They said they felt revivified when they were done; they said they see people differently after sketching them, more vividly, more detailed – not just the surface, judgemental looks. They are forced to look deeply and they talked about the beauty in the texture and wrinkles and fatty pockets of the various models they’ve had. They made me feel different – I mean it’s not every day someone compliments your collarbones!
When I told my bestie, Marie, about the experience, she said she’d love to be a portrait model for a day and poof next thing you know she was perched on that same stool lovingly gazing at the green X and I was at a card table sketching her profile. From one who can barely draw stick people, this was yet another unique experience. The entry point is easy for this class: a pencil, eraser and paper are all you really need. While my portrait of my bestie didn’t resemble her in the slightest, you could tell it was a human, so I was pleased with myself. #LowBar
At the conclusion of the sessions the art is taped up on the wall and the model may choose whichever picture(s) they like. It’s very cool to see the many interpretations of “you!”
As I heard one of the artists, Cair, say quietly to no one in particular: “I love it here.”
Of her first modelling experience, Marie had this to say: “It was fun; the time went a lot faster than I thought. I think my yoga and mediation practice helped me to sit still.” To the question of would you do it again, she said: “Oh yeah, I’d even do it without clothes!” That’s my bestie!
SSPP would love to welcome you there as either a model or as a new or seasoned artist. Your first visit as a guest is free, it’s $2 if you are a Shoal member and $4 if you are not.
To join the art party contact Joanne Helm at helmj123@gmail.com, she says: “If you can fog up a glass, come!”
