Study of N

Coloured pencil & white chalk on toned paper
Unframed
9″x 12″

There’s magic in a model stand.

A perfectly average person that you might walk past 100x on the street and think “Yep, that’s another human” can climb on a model stand, have a spotlight put on them and transform before your eyes into the sublime.

I don’t know how to explain it. 

That’s what happened with this model – he was an artist friend’s neighbour and wanted to try this “art modeling” thing at least once. Artists are always on the lookout for people willing to take their kit off for us*, so we happily invited him to model for us one evening.

Off the model stand, he was just, well, a guy. Friendly, interesting, nice bone structure. But not wildly charismatic, or the kind of person who’d cause you to stop dead in the street just so you could stare at them in wonder as they walk past. 

But on the model stand, he was transformed: the light, the pose, the setting. It changes the way you see someone. They go from regular human to something so much more. 

Maybe the model stand just reveals what gets obscured in day-to-day life. Maybe all we need is one light and a pair of eyes focused on us to illuminate our hidden depths and wonders. Even after 10+ years of life drawing, it is still a mysterious and magical process that never ceases to render me somewhat speechless.

$275