Drawing crowds: A man disrobed in Hastings Art Gallery and everyone loved it

Model Karl Schroder poses at the life drawing classes which have started in Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

The artists sat in a room of the Hastings Art Gallery, pencils at the ready, as model Karl Schroder disrobed.

Life drawing is a traditional art practice that isn't for everyone, but it turns out it is taking off (so to speak) in Hawke's Bay.

Emily Armstrong, from The Pencil Room, says her sessions have been so popular in Napier, it was time to bring them to Hastings. The first one was on Saturday and was also a success.

She knows some may not understand the appeal but describes the sessions as a "meditative" form of relaxation.

"It's quite a unifying experience, everyone is very focused and you go into your own meditative state when you're drawing.

"It's about recognising, too, that the body is just the body, and everyone has a body.

"So it's kind of unifying in that sense as well, celebrating the human form in all its little differences.

"It's a very traditional practice and it's one of the most challenging subjects to draw," she said.

The sessions also provide a social opportunity, with the time to see each other's work and talk in a break. Part of the attraction is also "being in a group of creative people", she said.

An art teacher by trade, Armstrong began her non-profit art classes, The Pencil Room, about four years ago.

About two years ago when she moved to Napier after teaching at Whitecliffe College in Auckland, she began teaching children's and adults' art classes.

Soon after, she started holding life drawing sessions where a group of between four and 10 people produce a series of drawings of the life model.

Helen O'Connor and Emily O'Sullivan wanted to try a new weekend activity so headed along to their first life drawing class. Photo / Paul Taylor

The sessions have been popular at Creative Arts Napier (CAN) with a core group attending for their own art practice.

She says they aren't classes but instead are sessions where she also draws but is available to help and provide suggestions to the attendees.

For Emily O'Sullivan and her friend Helen, it was the first time they had done it.

Although having done some art and drawing at school, O'Sullivan classes herself as a novice.

She said the way the class worked, starting with small 30-second drawings and working up to a half-hour drawing, helped ease her in to the process.

She describes the class as "really relaxing" and did not find the experience of drawing a naked model awkward.

"When Helen and I first arrived, we had the feeling of not knowing what to expect but it all felt normal and relaxing.

"People realise bodies are just bodies," she said.

She said it was great to go out to Hastings for a weekend activity and would "definitely go again".

To attend a life drawing session, it is a requirement to have basic drawing experience such as from at school, but life drawing experience is not necessary.

Armstrong hopes to continue the classes in Hastings dependent on further funding from the creative communities scheme.

The next Hastings classes will be held on Saturday, August 22. Tickets are $20 and available on Eventfinda.