Drawing class

Drawing class, March 2015

Mr M's birthday was in February, and long before that date Lola II had been planning a surprise. Ever since they both went to a Members' Event at the British Museum and were encouraged to make a pencil drawing under the guidance of a drawing teacher. Lola II considered Mr M's drawing to be very fine, and it is now framed and hanging on the wall. So the surprise was to be a drawing lesson with this same teacher, Anna, but at their home and together with six other people, of whom I was one.

Anyone can tell you that keeping secrets is not my strong point. Admittedly I am better at it than Mr A or mum, who given a chance will be certain to say the wrong thing - I just find it very difficult to lie when faced with a direct question. Which is why I feel proud to say that I did not give the game away, even when asked a week before the big day by Lola II in the presence of Mr M: when would I next be in London? I said it was a secret, which was true.

The surprise had to include the provision of lunch, as Lola could not be seen to assemble food for nine people when Mr M was expecting to go out to a drawing class somewhere else. An online food order was delivered to me ahead of time and I brought it with me. There were also undercover assignations in a local cafe, secret bedmaking and no doubt more subterfuge that I was unaware of. Anyway, it all went swimmingly and Mr M was surprised and we had a full day of lessons, in which we were taught how to draw faces.

Drawing anything is pretty difficult. I am no expert, but I've had a go at drawing things (long ago, admittedly) and no face I've ever drawn looks like a human face, let alone the person whose face it is. After a day being taught how to do it, I think the drawings I produced are not bad, and with practice I can see how it could be possible to achieve a proper likeness. I had a fantastic time.

Before hints and tips

Same face, later

First we were given pencils and told not to judge our own work but to move on if things got sticky. We had a couple of warm-up exercises with the pencil, and then were given a slightly out-of-focus face to copy, and some charcoal. I've never used charcoal before, but it was such fun. Teacher commented on our work, and told us about tricks and techniques to use, and I produced a face. My first face belonged to a man, which was a pity because the picture I was copying was of a woman, but using the advice provided I remodelled it and suddenly it transformed into a female face. I still don't know how that happened.

After lunch we had a different face to copy, using pencil this time. That was fun too, and I drew a respectable face (the one in the picture at the top of the blog), but I love the charcoal one much more - in fact, I love it so much that I may frame it. Of course Mr M and Lola II drew lovely faces too, but this is my blog all about me. Oh all right, here's Lola II and her drawing, from pretty early on in the day.

Unfortunately we don't have a picture of Mr M and his drawing except in the group photo at the top. Happy Birthday Mr M!