Last night I attended a local life drawing class for the first time in well over fifteen years (rather unusually it was a Kinbaku life drawing class, if you don't want to see partial nudity or bondage then don't click here to see what I got up to). I was very struck to be reminded of the experience of drawing that I'd so enjoyed decades ago before I had any meditation experience. It was the enjoyment of entering and remaining in a deeply focused state of attention. In other words it was I think to a large extent an experience of joy arising out of mindfulness.

This got me thinking that it could be interesting to explore the mindfulness of drawing with a group of fellow meditators. This is in part a pragmatic idea. Life drawing classes are rarely cheap in large part because people pay for a model's time. A model is usually preferred because remaining absolutely still for a substantial period is a considerable demand for most.

So, how about this for a format: A group of us get together for two reasonably long periods of drawing (perhaps 40 minutes or more). During each period one or more people who'd prefer to meditate than draw would become the "models" for the remainder. I think there would be a benefit to starting each session with a short body-scan meditation after which we could bring to both the sitting and the drawing the intensity of collective commitment that many of us are used to bringing to our shared meditation practice at the Buddhist Centre. I imagine that it might be novel, challenging and interesting for both the drawers and the sitters to place our shared experience of meditation under such scrutiny. Perhaps in fact a good deal more interesting that drawing a stranger who's modelling for money. Incidentally I don't think life drawing particularly benefits from either tuition or nudity (let alone bondage!) so it should be entirely appropriate for us to be together just as we are in a shared silence.

I thought I'd throw this idea out into the ether and see if it catches anyone's imagination. If we get sufficient support including someone with enough experience to lead a meditation then we could try finding a time and venue for a one off or perhaps ideally a regular Mindfulness of Drawing meeting to develop and deepen our creative practice.