Drawing the human figure is not like riding a bicycle.

"I was a little rusty," Southbridge artist Cathleen Moore said, when asked why she recently joined a local life-drawing group. "There's a warm-up period involved but you gradually get quicker."

You've got to be fast. Life-drawing models often strike a pose for only five or 10 minutes before switching positions. There's no time to let your mind second-guess your hand or for fretting much about angles or shading.


"Drawing from the figure keeps you sharp," Susan Swinand, a member of the Worcester group, said. "It helps you sharpen your skills of observation. It's looking and seeing what's actually there and then being able to move that out through your hand."

You can see the well-honed results in an exhibition of work by the Worcester Life Drawing Group and other area artists called "The Naked and the Nude." The exhibit at The Gallery at the Sprinkler Factory, 38 Harlow St., Worcester, runs through Aug. 5.

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