The Literary Cafe was Timothy Herron's go-to pub. He would bring his sketch pad along while he had a few drinks, drawing the people and things around him. Several years ago, Herron and his friend Brian Pierce threw around the idea of drawing portraits in the bar.
The result was the tongue-in-cheek-titled Pretentious Tremont Artists, a drawing group with a laid-back personality. Every Friday from 9 p.m. to midnight, the group gathers in the back room of the Tremont bar and draws portraits. In lieu of a sitting fee, the models receive each artist's drawings at the end of the evening.
"There's no money ever exchanged and there's always a model," says Herron, who is responsible for organizing the subjects each week and uploading photos of the drawings to his Facebook page. "Other drawing groups have a stable of models, but it's a limited stable. You'll draw the same model quite often."
Anyone is welcome to sit for drawing, although the calendar is packed through the end of the year. Notable locals that have sat for the group include writer Mary Doria Russell, journalist Michael Heaton and Judge John Sutula.
"It's kind of a challenge. Can you capture this person? Can you do a good job of it?" explains Herron. "It doesn't matter how you do that Friday because next Friday you have a new challenge."
