By Rebecca Faller

On most Tuesday nights at 7pm the Fine Arts Gallery in Casemates hosts a live portrait session. Anyone can go along and draw/paint the subject, there’s a small fee of £5 which includes the use of an easel if you need one plus wine and nibbles (yes, wine and nibbles!)

Friends of mine had modelled previously and found the venture to be enjoyable so I decided to give it a go. Before you all start to blush this was the portrait class and not the nude life drawing; that takes place on Thursdays. The burning question was: could I sit still for two hours? Turns out there was an interval (where said wine and nibbles were consumed) so I only had to sit still for two 1-hour slots. A total of seven artists were there with a variety of mediums: paint, pencil, acrylic and even iPad art.

The President of the Fine Arts Association, Paul Cosquieri, kept us all entertained with his choice of music, which was a Cosby, Stills & Nash album played loudly from the CD player in the adjoining room, later on he put on a Who album and from time to time would start singing (quite good singing actually) so the time flew by.

It’s quite an odd feeling, sitting still, focussing on one point ahead while seven people all concentrate on you; I felt I could not move an inch or I would ruin the whole thing so I remained static and lifeless.

Now and then one of the artists would make a comment about my hair or my chin or that they could not ‘get my nose’; there were tuts and sighs and moppings of brows which I could barely discern from the corner of my eyes which were the only things I could keep in motion.

Throughout the session my glass was continually topped up by the one-and-only Andrew Planet, stalwart of the gallery and master of plants. The evening ended and I was finally able to view the works, all good in their own way, all fresh and spontaneous, a fascinating exposure into the minds of each of those artists. One of them, a guy called Matt, gave me his drawing as a gift which was a special little bonus to round off what was an extremely satisfying experience.

Fancy giving it a go yourself? Then contact Cosqui on Facebook or call the gallery on 20052126

Artworks: Clockwise from top left: Paul Cosquieri, Matt, Freddie Poggio, Gerry Martinez and Leslie Gaduzo.