Escaping the Berlin Winter – off to Maspalomas!
The shorter the days get in Berlin, the more I miss doing my favorite thing to do during the summer: nude drawing at the gay beach. As you might know from my former posts, Berlin offers a bunch of established nude areas in parks and at the lakes around the city. So there’s a lot of possibilities for me to create nude drawings in the warmer season. If there are too many weeks ahead before one can get naked outside by the lake again without risking catching a cold, there’s always one solution: Maspalomas, the gay paradise on the Spanish Island of Gran Canaria. Only a couple of hours of flight away from the german capital.
A true gay paradise
Maspalomas isn’t only home of the Yumbo Center – an open air shopping center full of gay bars and clubs. After a little walk through the dunes, that separate the town from the ocean, you’ll find an amazing gay nude beach around a little beach kiosk, called Chiringuito 7.
And as I’m flipping through my sketchbooks from the last 12 months, I thought I share with you some impressions from my last stay there.
Me and my sketchbook, surrounded by naked gays
When I’m sitting on our beach blanket with my boyfriend, my sketchbook on my lap and my crayons spread out around me, I’m looking around for the next man to capture in my book. The person i want to draw shouldn’t be located neither too far nor too close from my spot. Anything between 5 and 15 meters works best. And since I’m interested to portray them in a natural pose, I always try not to be too obvious, so they’re not realizing im drawing them until I’m happy with the result.
When I’m drawing men at the beach, I have to work extremely fast. You would be surprised how often people move around, even when they’re relaxing.
Of course there is always a little tension, hoping I’ll be able to draw fast enough before the man in the focus realizes he’s being sketched. Or worse: he’s changing his position! The reactions of them who understand I’m drawing them are as different as people are. Some just turn around, some get nervous and start moving quickly. Others smile and freeze. And some even get visibly excited by the situation or their personal idea of it.
Enough talking, here’s another selection of sketches for you and I hope you’ll enjoy them. (And there’s a whole lot more from that series in my drawing book that I haven’t published yet…) If you have any questions about my beach drawings, please let me know in the comment section. Thank you!
Drawings sizes about 14,8 x 21 cm / 6″ x 8″, Faber Castell Polychromos crayons on heavy paper