I got the call two weeks ahead, but I still left it to the last minute. I set my alarm for 6:30 Sunday morning, got up, made a pot of coffee and got to work. Standing naked in front of the bedroom mirror, the nervousness started to set in. I was so not prepared! While Voy watched half asleep from bed, I started striking poses and sketching out stick men making myself a “script” for later that morning. I had a few props: a pillow, a scarf and a hula hoop (yessss!)
Every Sunday morning from 10-12:30 one of the Art Schools here in town holds a “sketch club”
I arrived almost a half an hour early, wanting to make sure I didn’t get lost and that I had time to set up before all the “sketchers” started to show. I ended up waiting along with a few other people for the instructor to arrive. One of the guys came up and introduced himself as Quentin. He asked a few questions about the class (if we were in the right place etc…) but I told him it was also my first time attending. After a bit of chit chat he went over to wait on a seat in the shade. After a minute he came back up to me and asked: “Are you our model?”
Hmmmm….. Making small talk with one of the people I was about to get naked in front of was something I planned to avoid, but it ended up not being as weird as I thought it would be.
The instructor (Paul) arrived and let us in. Setting up the model stand and such came almost too naturally. (I did in fact, take three years of drawing back in University) I wasn’t a total newbie!
Paul had a quick look at my little stick men and gave me the go-ahead. That’s it. I dropped my robe and went into my first pose. So many words come to mind…exhilaration, empowerment, a great sense of self awareness, it’s hard to explain.
At the end, as everyone was packing up to leave, they thanked me. Such a great feeling.
Overall, I loved it.
xoxo
xoxox
Dirty Olives 