Figure Modeling in Times of War
Figure drawing without borders
The model I had scheduled to pose over Zoom for Arts Alliance of Stratford on July 5th, 2023 was Cleo who I mentioned in my first article. Cleo lives in Lviv, Ukraine which is 43 miles (70 Km) from the Polish border and 291 miles (469 Km) from Kiev.
This was her third time modeling for us. The first time she posed for our group she told me that there was the possibility of blackouts which could affect the Zoom connection, but she assured me that she could re-establish the connection quickly.
Due to its distance from Kiev, Vladimir Putin’s prime target, Lviv had escaped much of the bombardment in the eastern part of the country so the people there pretty-much went about their business and lived their lives.
Our online models are located all over the world. To avoid confusion, I schedule the models by converting our local time to theirs via this handy website. Ukraine is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time, the eastern-most of the 4 contiguous times zones in the USA. Here in Stratford, Connecticut, our session started Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM. For Cleo, her start time was 1:00 AM Thursday morning. The session was scheduled to wrap up for her at 4:00 AM.
For our models around the world, these late hours are just part of doing business in the gig economy. If we have work to offer, they are willing to work late into the night or early in the morning.
After about 1 hour and 50 minutes (2:50 AM her time), we had just finished our second 20-minute pose and Cleo was on a break when I saw a text from her come through the Zoom chat,
You know I’m I Ukraine, and my city was just attacked 3 times, and it was really loud so probably really close to me.
She then added,
I’m terribly sorry, but I have to hide.
Later in Instagram direct messaging she gave me more details,
Gosh, I’m so so sorry. It’s just the first time I heard bombs so close and so loud. Even saw the flash. Had to leave, we’re still under attack.
Cleo prefers to keep her Zoom on mute which is why the other artists and I didn’t hear the blasts.
I talked to all in the meeting about what we should do. We agreed that we didn’t want her to feel obligated to return to the Zoom meeting if there was any possibility of further attacks. If she was someplace safe, she should stay there so I ended the Zoom meeting.
The following morning, the news media had picked up the story of the attack on Lviv. The Russian military had launched 10 cruise missiles, all intended for civilian targets. The Ukrainian Air Force had intercepted 7. The remaining 3 missiles that got through killed 6 and injured dozens more. The city of Lviv sustained a massive amount of damage.
Cleo contacted me shortly after the meeting ended to let me know she was OK and hoped we could work together again. I saw on her Instagram page that she is again posting drawings of her by artists on Zoom.
What else is there to do but go back to work?
Below are some of my Procreate drawings and paintings from Cleo’s session. She did some fun poses with red balloons as props. 2 of the other artists in the Zoom meeting sent me their drawings of Cleo. Have a look here.
If you would like to purchase giclée prints of any of the artwork I featured in this article, leave me a comment specifying which image. Alternatively, you can contact me through my design website.
I am happy to take on commissions, nude, clothed, portrait or pets.
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