Art Model Ch. 01

“Models for life drawing class. No experience req’d. $6-8/hr. Anywhere College. 555-9852.” Hmmm, it sounded easy. It was better than minimum wage. Being at the beginning of the fall semester and short of cash, I decided to call.

“Art department. How may I help you?” From her voice she sounded over 40 and a smoker. I envisioned her over weight too.

“I am calling regarding the ad for models.”

“OK, for the life drawing class. One minute.” She coughed and shuffled some papers.

“I have to ask, you sound like a guy, but male or female?”

“Male.”

“Your height and weight please.”

“Six two, one seventy.”

“Hair color, and is it long or short?”

“Blonde and short.”

“Any tattoos, ear rings, nose rings, etc.?”

“None.”

“Have you ever done any modeling before?”

“No.”

“Are you free for a 7-8:30 PM class Tuesdays and Thursdays? Not that you would work more than one or two evenings.”

“Yes.”

“OK, I’ll put you down for next Tuesday, but the instructor wants to interview all new models before their first class. Can you be here this Thursday at 6:30 PM for the interview?”

“Yes, I’m free then.”

“Good. Be at the department office by quarter after to fill out an application and the instructor meet you there.”

“OK. Uh, what about the pay?”

“That will depend on the interview.”

“OK. Thanks.”

“Good-bye.” And she hung up before I could reply.

Cool, an easy job for a few bucks.

Two days latter I arrived in the Art department office. “May I help you?” The woman behind the counter asked. It was the voice from the phone, but she looked about thirty and was thin. Actually she was fairly good looking, to my surprise. But I was right about the smoking, there was a pack next to her on the counter.

“I am here to fill out a job application and an interview.”

“Oh, ya. Here is the application. Let me know when you are done.”

I looked at the application. It had all the standard blanks and questions. I finished in ten minutes. “OK, I’m done.” I announced as I slid the paper across the counter toward her.

“I’ll call Kate and let her know you are ready.” She picked up the phone and had a brief conversation. “She wants you to meet her in her class room, go out the door and turn left. Room 113, about half way down the hall on the left.”

“Thanks.” I turned and easily found the room. I entered and saw a woman sitting at a desk on the far side of the room. There was a circle of easels and a slightly raised platform in the middle. I made my way toward the desk.

“Are you about the modeling job?” She said.

“Ya, that’s me.”

“Hi, I’m Kate, and you are?”

“I’m Bill.”

“Nice to meet you Bill. Am I right at that you have no modeling experience.”

“That is correct, unless you count class pictures and family portraits.”

“OK, no experience. Do you know what we mean by ‘life drawing’?”

“No, I just figured it was drawing things and people were included.” It sounded lame, but I figured a guess wouldn’t hurt.

“You are partially right. Basically it is drawing the human form, nude. I would prefer to call the class ‘Contemporary Nude Drawing’, but you get too many voyeur types that just want to see naked women and the administration didn’t like anything with ‘nude’ in it. So, now that you know what it is, are you still interested.”

“Um, I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Well, I can give you a couple of minutes, but I have to know tonight.” She paused a minute.

My mind was racing. Nude, the job would be to pose nude in front of twenty or more people.

“You know, you wouldn’t be showing them anything they haven’t already seen. And chances are that you don’t know anyone in my classes. Do you attend class here?”

“No, I go to the University.”

“Even better chance that no one here will know you, or even run into you in public. My students are so used to seeing nudes, that is really no big deal to them even if they were to see you outside of class.”

“I don’t know...”

“How about this, you try a test run with just me. If it is too uncomfortable, then we know. If not, then maybe we could try one class.”

“OK, I think we could do that.”

“Great, I’ll lock the door and you can get undressed. If you feel shy, you can undress behind that screen right over there.” She pointed over to the corner of the room, as stood and headed for the door.

I almost panicked and called it off, but then went behind the screen. I pulled off my shirt, shoes, pants, and socks, then I hesitated. My mind was racing....then finally I dropped my underwear.

“How you doing back there? Coming out?”

“Ya,” I replied and started around the screen.

“There. That isn’t so bad is it? Come over here.” She was standing at an easel near the platform. “Step up on the platform.” I complied with her instructions. “OK, now get in a comfortable position and freeze.” I did. “Good. That’s all there is to it.” She was drawing quickly and I wondered what she was putting on the page. Then I started to get a hard on. “Oh!” She noted. “Don’t worry, we have all seen that too. It happens from time to time, but rarely have models had it happen during class. The more comfortable you are, the less likely it will happen.” As she was speaking I started to shrink. “See, told you so.”

After a while there was a knock at the door. I turned toward the door and was shocked to see a girl’s face in the small, square window. By reflex I turned way from the door. Kate was heading for the door. “Wow, I forgot about the time, class is in five minutes. You can get dressed now.” I made a beeline to behind the curtain.

I heard the door open. “Hi Kate, breaking in a new model or starting a new project?”

“New model. Not sure though, he is a bit nervous.”

“Well, from what I could see, he has nothing to be ashamed of. Oh, I like your sketch. Too bad you didn’t finish.”

I emerged from behind the curtain fully dressed. And headed toward Kate. My face felt like it was glowing red.

“You doing all right Bill?”

“Ya, the window caught me by surprise.”

“So, you game to come back for the class next week?”

“Not to push, but I sure hope you do. You look great. Much better than some of the other models we have had.” It was the girl from the window. She was cute blue eyed blonde. It flashed through my head that I would like to see her do a little of this modeling too! “Why don’t you look at what Kate did?”

I peeked around at the easel. He had drawn my chest down to my knees. I thought it looked good, but it wasn’t me. At least what I saw in the bathroom mirror.

“Think I’ll give it a try.”

“Great,” said Kate. “Since you are here now, would you like to stay and observe tonight, so you know what to expect next week?”

“Ya, sure. That sounds good.”

“You can sit by my desk or follow me around the room. If you want a drink or snack, the machines are back by the office. Class usually starts a few minutes late.”

“OK, I’ll be back in a minute.” I grabbed a cup of coffee from the machine. Typical, it hardly tasted like coffee, I just hoped that the caffeine was real.

Entering the classroom again, about half the students were there. The girl who arrived early was nowhere to be seen as I headed toward Kate’s desk. Kate was walking around visiting with the students as they were setting up at their easels. As I sat in the chair next to the desk, the girl emerged from behind the curtain in a red silk robe. She headed straight for me.

“Hi! Sorry I didn’t introduce myself before, my name is Kathy.” She extended her hand.

I shook her hand. “I’m Bill.”

“Ya, I gathered that earlier. Trust me. You will do fine.”

“I thought you were one of the students. From what you said about the other models, earlier.”

“Well, technically I am not, but Kate lets me sit in.”

A few more students filed in and started setting up. Kate called out from across the room, “OK Kathy, I think we should get started.”

Kathy said, “Excuse me, time to go to work.” Winking at me, she slipped of her robe and handed it to me. “Can you look after this for a while for me?”

I was caught totally off guard, she was hot, and I was trying not to stare.

“It is OK to look, that’s what I am here for. I assume from the look on your face you like what you see...”

“Ya, and ya, I’ll take care of this,” as I lifted her robe.

“Thanks.” And she strolled over and up onto the platform. Oh, what a nice ass. She struck a pose, facing me. Legs slightly spread and her hands clasped to together on top of her head, pulling her hair up and back. I stared for a minute, then I caught a wink and a smile from her. I smiled back and glanced around the room.

Kate was a couple easels over and signaled for me to come over. I walked over. “That’s good. I think you are getting the right feeling on the shading,” she encouraged the middle aged woman at the easel. What I saw as definitely a sketch of a woman, but not Kathy as I saw her standing before us.

Kate moved to the guy at the next easel and looked over his shoulder. He was erasing and redrawing. “Don’t worry about getting it perfect. You are not trying to duplicate what you see, but interpret it. This is not a photography class, remember? Now just relax and get a complete figure down on paper. In time your style will emerge and your drawings will be more pleasing to your own eye.” It looked to me that he was obsessing on Kathy’s boobs and getting them perfect. Not that I wouldn't either.

“Would you like to try to sketch Kathy?” Kate asked me as we passed an empty easel, enroute to the next student.

“No. I have enough trouble just drawing stick figures. I can do fine with drafting and mechanical drawing, but art stuff like this is beyond me.”

“Well, I doubt that. Let me know if you change your mind. Most of the folks in here said something like that when they started last year.”

I followed her around to a couple more students. Only a couple were what I would call decent and the rest were lousy, unless you were into impressionist art. I returned to the chair and noticed I had carried Kathy’s robe with me the whole time. Looking up at Kathy got me another wink and smile. This time I winked back. The rest of the class time I spent sipping my coffee, glancing at Kathy, and observing the students. Some were relaxed and sketching away, while others were stiff, even sweating, and constantly redoing things. I got the sense that they were more focused on their drawings than Kathy.

“OK, we are about done for today. Sign and date your work. I’m collecting them tonight and will give them back next class with my comments.” Kate announced with a couple of sighs and grumbles from the class.

Kathy stepped down and came over for her robe. I handed it to her, she slipped it on, and started walking around. She walked past each easel, checking out what they had done with her. She ended up behind the screen as the class filed out the door.

“You still game to model for us next week?” It was Kate again.

“Ya, shouldn’t be a big deal. It is like they don’t even see the model.”

“Yup, you got it. Most are so focused on their creation to notice what they are creating it from, at least in any personal or sexual sense.”

“Bill, you want to go get a drink? There is a place just off campus.” It was Kathy.

“OK, but I can’t stay to long. I have an early class tomorrow.” Oh, how lame. A hot chick, who just showed all her assets asks you out and you think about school! We started for the door.

“See you two next Tuesday.”

We walked silently until we were outside.

“So, what do you think?” Kathy asked.

“About what?” I could see one of those female trick questions. Many answers, but none truly right.

“About the class, modeling, and me.” Boy, she was direct. Maybe it was part of being used to exposing one’s self.

“As for modeling, like I told Kate, I don’t think it will be a problem. I mean, it was like they didn’t even see you they were do focused on their work. That doesn’t mean that I still don’t have some reservations about it, or that I am not nervous about it. As for their ability, I think very few were any good. I guess that is why they are taking the class. I must say though, they did better than I could.”

We were at the pub and walked in. Looking around there were a couple empty tables and Kathy lead the way over to one. As we were sitting down, the waitress was there, “Hi Kathy, what can I get for you and your friend””

Kathy answered, “Hi Jen, do you still have the Red Tail ale on tap? If so, I’ll have a pint.”

“We still have it. What will you have?”

“I’ll have the same,” I replied and the waitress headed off.

“So you are still a bit nervous. I can remember that. Would it help if you practiced? You know, walk around nude at home. Have a nudie day.”

“Uh, I don’t think so. I am embarrassed enough and I don’t want my roommates to know about this.”

“Yet!” She stuck in. “OK, your even chicken to tell your roommates. What if they find out?” She said with a big smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell. Maybe I can help. You could come over to my place for a nudie day this weekend. I don’t think my roommates would mind, I do it all the time.”

“I guess so. You sure about your roommates being OK with a guy hanging around naked?”

“Tell you what, give me your phone number and I’ll give you a call tomorrow, after I check with them.”

“OK,” and I recited my number as she wrote it down. Jen showed up with our ale.

“Here is my address. And here is cell number, I in case you chicken out.” She scribbled the info on a napkin and slid it to me. I glanced at it and stuffed it in my pocket.

“Thanks, but I won’t chicken out.”

“You could also come with for some time in the sun too. We were planning to go up to our favorite tanning spot on Saturday anyway. You could stand to get a bit of a tan, you know.” Again with the smile and a wink. “By the way, you avoided saying what you thought about me.” Again the directness of the statement caught me off guard. Was she just flirting or not?

“Well, I liked your tan lines,” was all I could come up with. She did have a nice tan, and there were no tan lines that I had seen.

“Not a bad reply, and believe me I have heard a bunch. Most I didn’t even ask for.”

“Thanks. I guess I don’t know what is appropriate to say and not say. I mean, on one hand it is very personal, your body and parts that normally are covered, and public, in that you were not hiding anything.” I could feel myself turning red again. I hated that. “Then there’s the angle that you touched on, is what I say being interpreted as a complement or a crude comment or a pick up line. Then there is this whole thing about not being used to nakedness outside of private places like the bathroom or bedroom.”

“Let me guess, you don’t have a girlfriend, you grew up in a prudish or religious family, and you were a nerd in high school?”

“Ouch, how’d you know.”

“Well, you said you have an early class tomorrow. Only nerds would sign up for an early class on Fridays. The way you were looking at me in class, it was almost like you had never seen a girl naked before. Then there is the nervousness I sense in you that is not just from me seeing you naked or talking about it. It is like just being with me has you uncomfortable.” She had me nailed. “Am I any where near right?”

“Ya. I haven’t really had any girlfriends, just a few friends who were girls. I feel like I am back in high school. There was this one girl I had a crush, Christa, and we had the same math class together one semester. Every time I got near her I got nervous. Sometimes she would say hi when we were waiting to go in and I mumbled and bumbled like an idiot.” Oh, how I hated that. I could feel it all coming back. Major geekdom.

“Well, I don’t think you are an bumbling idiot. I kinda like it. It is refreshing, particularly with the way most guys are, all macho, thinking they are God’s gift to women and we should be falling all over them. Just relax and feel free to say anything, with in reason. I’ll tell you if you go too far. So, tell me more about yourself. What’s your major?”

“I am a double major, CompSci and Math, so the nerd thing runs deep. I am in my third year and on schedule to graduate next year. What about you?” Some how we had managed to down have our pints already.

“Oh, sounds like you are over at the university. You aren’t kidding about the nerd thing. I should have guessed from the computer tan. I am studying Business Accounting, here at Butte and plan to transfer to the university at the end of this year. I have most of my general ed. done. So, do you have your own computer or do you live in the lab?”

“I actually have a couple computers. A desktop and a laptop, so I avoid the lab. I can’t concentrate in there with all the other people making noise. Not to mention all those that wander around asking for help or trying to steal others’ work.”

“Hey could I used your computer to do some spreadsheets for my accounting class? I’m sick of doing the lab thing!”

“Sure, I’ll bring the laptop this weekend or you could come over. So, how did you get into modeling for Kate’s class?”

“Well, first I was just a student. I signed up for the class not knowing really what it was, other than it counted for general ed. One day, the model didn’t show up. Kate had said at the beginning of the semester that if the model didn’t show, someone from the class would have to volunteer. She said she would do it, but then how could she get around the room to teach? Anyway, Kate asked for a volunteer and no one was responding, so I did. It wasn’t that big a deal. Growing up with hippie parents we did the nude thing all the time. I mean, if we went to the beach or camping it was always at a clothing optional place. My parents always sunbathe nude by the pool in our back yard, and even require anyone going in the hot tub not to wear a swim suit. Anyway, it was a little weird at first. Not knowing the other people, them not being nude too, and being inside. After that class Kate asked if I would like to model regularly.”

“So, how long has it been since that first time?”

“About a year now. I also model for a couple other classes, as well as some private studio stuff, mostly for the instructors. The private sessions pay better. If you’re interested, I might be able to get you set up with some sessions. It is easy cash for sitting or standing around for a while. The only hard part is if they make you stay still too long, but most of the experienced artists don’t care if you move a little to stay comfortable.”

“Sounds good, but I think I need to get past Tuesday before signing up for more. Heck, I still have to get past nudie day this weekend.”

“You’ll do fine. From what I saw you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. It’s not like you are massively over weight or anything.”

Our pints were almost empty, and Jen magically appeared, “Can I get you another?”

“Not this time Jen, thanks.” Kathy replied. “Hey, we are going up to the meadow lake Saturday. Do you want to come?”

“That sounds good. It has been a while since I got some rays. What time you going?”

“Haven’t decided, but I would say we should be catching rays by 10.”

“OK, I’ll see you there.” With that Jen headed to the next table.

“Do you think you can get to my place by 9 o’clock on Saturday?” Kathy asked me.

“Sure, that sounds good.”

“Cool, be sure to bring a beach towel and sun screen, not that 15 stuff either. You should use 8 or you will never get a tan. Pack a lunch or you can get something at the deli when we stop to get drinks on the way. We usually stay out there until four or five, so you could bring some homework or a book if you don’t plan to nap all day. Don’t bring too much, as we have to hike about half a mile to get to our spot.”

I nodded and drained my pint. She finished hers too, and started to get up.