Here in New York City, as is unfortunately the case in many parts of the world, we are staying inside and practicing social distancing, to mitigate the effects of this dreadful COVID19 pandemic. As artists, yes, we are used to spending a lot of time in our studios. But we are also used to venturing out into the world to be inspired and to make a contribution. One of the ways that we keep in shape artistically, and connect with others, is through life drawing.
Obviously during a lockdown, gathering as a group to draw a live model is impossible. So I was excited and curious to try life drawing in the virtual world, via Zoom. Catherine Anne, a NYC based model who I’ve worked with in the past, sent out an invitation to join her Zoom session, where she would be posing for artists, wearing a leotard of course, but timing her poses in the general protocol of a life drawing class. A lot of people showed up online to join in, and Anna took some gorgeous poses for all of us.
I chose this one to post here today, because I think her body language describes what we as a global community are experiencing right now. Anna is curled up in a self-protective kind of pose, but holds her head high, and looks hopefully toward the future. Hope is, as Emily Dickinson wrote, “that thing with feathers.” And, I would add, so is love. Love and hope can still ignore the rules of social distancing and connect us all.
With warm wishes out to everyone reading this, to stay safe and keep healthy, so we can all celebrate together in some hopefully not-too-distant future.
posted by Veronica
PS If you’d like to see the other drawings that I made in the virtual session, visit my page on Instagram @verolawlor.
