First Life Drawing Class in 30? years!

The title says it all. I went along to a life drawing class today and think it's the first one I've been to since I graduated from art college in 1979... Here are the results:

After 6 x 10 minute sketches to warm up (and, looking back, boy did I need it!) we moved onto 20 minutes. I've never used watercolours to draw a figure before (I don't think...) and was surprised this worked so well. Not brilliant but pleasantly not bad. Meg said it was "delicate".
This was a half hour drawing BUT I thought it was going to be an hour so I was really taking my time with it. Proportions are a bit off and it doesn't show up too well in the photo but one of the other artists there thought it was lovely! That was very encouraging! "Delicate" was used to describe this one too.

In my final year at art college (1978/79), I used to be able to draw a figure starting at the eyes and just fill in the rest of the space with the drawing. Now I'm back to needing to sketch the whole form first and then move into the details.

Another half hour pose. I hate the face, it's all wrong, but I'm fairly pleased with the perspective along the body (except for the chest area which is looking very odd now!). It's comforting to know I can still "see".
A 10 minute pose again, to finish off the day. As the first watercolour sketch worked so well, I thought I'd try another. Very unfinished, of course, but I like it better than I thought at the time.

I confess I found myself wondering about the value of it all. I seem to need to have a purpose in what I do. Obviously drawing informs my knowledge of the human figure for other work, but I'm not sure what it's all about, apart from expressing ego... My photography lecturer at college, Joseph McKenzie, said that art is only [forgive me] masturbation. I have a tendency to agree with him...