Introducing Wee Jakey

I read about a drawing challenge last night, and it sounded like fun - so today, I really felt like I had to try it out. I divided the class into four groups of people - each group containing either three or four girls. I told each group that they were to work together and draw a full body. Each participant within each group had to agree to work on a specific body part, then at the end, they would put the pages together.

It was a great exercise and I'm definitely going to use it again. Once the pose was completed, I got each group to come up with their pages, put them together and see how well they all fitted. The first group used an extra sheet of paper - presumably in order to flatter me. Photos were taken of each creation. Once they were done, I set all the picture collages on the floor, then more pictures were taken of them all side-by-side with each other.

The competition at the end of the class was particularly difficult today. I selected my favourites, as usual, and tried to discard all barring just one or two of them - but this time there were four pictures remaining that I just couldn't choose between. I was all set for a prolonged applause-o-meter, but the girls shouted that down and chose the picture the bride had drawn. This was the head of her group's montage. It looked like one of those old Communist Propaganda posters and I thought it was beautiful.

One of the other pictures in the running was also the head of that particular collage - but this one had a slightly sardonic look to it. I really liked the smirk.

For today's group, it was only the bride who apparently didn't know what kind of event she had been signed up for. She seemed pleased, though. But she also said that someone had told her not to "draw the penis too big", which suggested that she might have had some idea of what to anticipate.

A new introduction to today's class was Wee Jakey. I saw a poseable artists' doll in an art shop while I was picking up fresh charcoal and chalks and had to buy it. A great addition to the classes, because the girls can use Jakey to suggest poses that they'd like to see. Sadly, the bride's suggestion - which looked very elegant - was impossible for me to even attempt. It looked like he was diving off a cliff - chest out, arms backward and (crucially) feet off the floor. I didn't even attempt it.