NuDD: Nude, Drink & Draw a truly unique experience in HK

With the art season upon is, Hong Kong is gearing up for seeing a lot of art and artists. At LocalHood we were interested in looking for something NEW. Thats when our fellow Volunteer, Priscilla spoke about one such artist whose work she had done and worship she had attended.

She spoke about Hayat Sing, an abstract painter. Hayat finds abstract painting a deeply meditative process and also organizes some workshops around painting. So what's so new about all this? In this article, LocalHood Volunteer, @ Priscilla Piergoelam, tells us about the painting workshops that Sing organizes which use nude models.

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The most famous life drawing movie scene is probably in the movie: the Titanic, where Jack draws a life picture of Rose while wearing only the heart of the ocean! I had always only seen nude life drawing scenarios in movies. It was never something I thought I could participate in with my lack of drawing skills, nor had it really crossed my mind to simply search for, let alone, sign up for a life drawing workshop.

Hong Kong with its wide variety of (unique) social activities gave me that opportunity. My friend told me about his experience over a dinner conversation and I was inspired to participate and experience it myself. The workshop is organised in various locations and the set always truly looks like a scene from a movie:

Sing is the founder of NuDD (Nude, Drink & Draw) and organises nude life drawing workshops accessible to all levels! I am no artist, painter, or drawer, but I love to be creative and step outside of my comfort zone once in a while. I know it can be scary so if you think you just need a bit more courage to draw, it comes with free flow of wine.

I very much enjoyed drawing class in school in my late teens. And that was also the one and only time I had properly tried to learn how to draw. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to try it out. And it did not disappoint. Rather I got inspired to learn more about life drawing and the more often you go you’ll be surprised how much you can improve.

Now let’s move on to the workshop. Each nude life drawing workshop needs a nude model. The gender of the model is not known upon registration and depends on who is available for the workshop. I see it a simply a nice surprise. I learned that the models volunteer and some are more experienced than others. The last workshop I attended the model was actually an avid life drawer joining these events regularly. Being on the drawing end of the workshop, she now wanted to experience how it is to be on the other side posing for drawers. During the workshop, the model is asked to pose in different poses for a specific time duration. The workshop usually starts off with a few short 2-minute poses, followed by a couple of 5-minute poses before a short break. The last hour of the session starts with a couple of 2-minute poses, followed by a couple of 10-minute poses and the class ends with a final 20-minute poses. An entire session takes around three hours of your time. The hardest part to me, you guessed it, is to actually draw by looking mostly at the model (and not on your paper) and to create definition in your drawing.

The workshop ends by showing your best 3 drawings to the group and admiring the work of other participants. Seeing all the different creations is beautiful and inspiring. You can engage with the model and speak to other drawers while finishing off your glass of wine. I’d love to walk around at the end of the session and see the drawings of other participants and the technique they used.

 The beauty of drawing with all levels means that you can see others’ work and learn from their extraordinary drawing skills and creativity. Interact with students before and after the event and a have glass of wine (or two). During the event, you are mostly focussed on the model and your piece of paper while sipping on some wine. I find that it is nourishing for the mind to be so focussed on the model and your drawing, a mental health exercise in a fun, relaxing and engaging way!

If you have never done it and are curious, sign up for the next workshop via bookwhen.com/NuDD or visit their instagram @nuddhk. Hayat Sing's website is another channel to get more information about his work and upcoming workshops https://www.hayatsing.com/nudd .