Art horse

[marydell]

I just ordered my Christmas present from my Dad (he pays, I pick!)...I'm super excited, even though it won't be here til January. I'm also somewhat filled with trepidation.


It may look like some sort of pillory but in fact it's a drawing bench called a "horse"--you straddle it facing the tall end, with your drawing board leaning against the tall part and anchored in the slot at the front of the bench. I produce much, much better work if I'm centered and "in my body," which is a challenge for me because generally my body and I prefer to occupy separate dimensions. (My body is perpetually seeking the dimension where everything is made of candy, flannel, painkillers, and chenille. I'll let you know if she finds it.) Horse benches are very helpful for keeping centered and comfortable, and having a full range of motion in your arm--it's sort of a similar feeling to sitting at a potter's wheel, except with less hunching. They're a staple of drawing classes and workshops and I've always wanted one, but I've never encountered one in the wild/at an art supply store. Once again I give thanks for the internet, through which all purchases are possible.

I feel a bit silly and tentative buying this right now, because I haven't drawn regularly for years, but I miss it, and the inability to get comfortable while drawing on large paper is a big part of why I don't draw much. So I hope that having this will get me over that particular hump and take my poor relationship with my physical self out of the equation somewhat. Or even--gasp!--help to repair that relationship.  When I talked to Dad about it he said he would love to invest in anything that could get me back into drawing--we are an artsy family and while my parents are glad I'm making a good living, they don't want me losing track of the soulful side of life.

So, come the new year, I'm going to start drawing again, for serious. eep.  

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

That's so cool! Like an easel, but sitting down. Just remember you don't have to show anybody if you don't wanna, but I hope you do sometimes!

[marydell.livejournal.com]

No worries, I am the show-offy type. It is like a seated easel--I'm surprised they're not more common.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

That does look very cool! I have almost the opposite reaction; after endless frustration in trying to write at desks, I took a drawing class and found that if I stood in front of an easel, I could focus on the drawing instead of on my own position. (Got sore legs quickly, but them's the breaks.)

I hope you have lots of fun in the drawing stuff.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I think being able to move your whole arm freely from the shoulder is a good thing, and a desk prevents that. I've thought about an easel but I'm generally uncomfortable when standing up.

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

Oh I want one.

And I hope it means you draw a lot more now :)

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Me too. I think I drew one thing all year, and that was a favor for my mom. Wanna draw fun stuff!

[gryphynshadow.livejournal.com]

Whoa. That is the coolest thing ever!

I'm so psyched for you that you get to have one! yay!

(I had a dream that I'd taken the bedside table and lamp, and the bookcase next to it, out of my room, and replaced them with a drafting table. One of the nice ones, that you can raise up or lower and adjust the angle of tilt. Now I'm kinda wondering how I'd go about making that a reality.)

I'm really glad you found a solution to one of your drawing/art blockage issue thingies. Hooray for workarounds!

:) Pics when you get it?

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yep, I will take pics once it arrives :)

I had a drafting table years ago and it didn't work all that well for me, but lots of people love them.

A nice cheap setup--really cheap, and really pretty good as fake easels go--is to take an old wood dining chair, drive a couple of nails into the front of the seat, and then lean a drawing board (http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-sketch-pad-boards/) ($10 for the big size!) against the back of the seat with the nails at the front keeping it from sliding off. Then you just need to find a low stool to sit on, or something to raise the chair up with so you can sit in a regular chair in front of it. Or, if you are flexy, kneel on a pillow on the floor.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Ooo! That looks like a wonderful aid to drawing.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

One of the best things about it is that when one is sitting on it, there is nothing to do BUT draw, unlike a desk, which allows all sorts of goofing off.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

We had those in my high school art classes, and they were great! I thought they'd been made up & never realized that they were a real thing. (Of course ours were probably made in the school's wood shop, from straight-cut pieces of plywood.) Also, how cool it is that your folks are buying you one.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I encountered them in art classes as well, and at the local figure-drawing workshop ($10 to draw from a live model for three solid hours, SO awesome), and was always going "oh, I wish it was possible to find those outside of an art school" but since I never saw them in stores I figured it wasn't possible. Finally it occurred to me that art schools must buy them from someplace. Although I think some of the ones I've used were definitely hewn from local ply, and not always well.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_swallow/]

this comment is really late, but this post made me so happy!