Sooo tired... two jobs yesterday - 5 hours work and nearly 3 hours travelling, with a gym workout inbetween. So today I'm aching, plus I've been having trouble getting to sleep. Today I was working at my other job for 8 hours too - then, being a single mum, I have to fit the shopping into my lunchbreak, and do the washing up and cook dinner and sort the laundry when I get home.
But I didn't start writing this to complain. It was quite an interesting day yesterday, actually. I saw a newborn lamb on my way to the first job, tiny and still wobbly on its feet. That was a good start. When I arrived - this was at the college again - I parked out on the road a little way up (there's never any room in the college car parks), behind an elderly gentleman. I had to move my car forward so he could get into his boot to retrieve a couple of bags. We then set off walking in the same direction.
I went to the hut and met the new tutor, realised this was a course for Adults, not teenagers, and that one of the students was someone I used to write with a few years ago. As I was early I went over to the office to pick up some claim forms, and met the elderly gentleman again. Ah, I thought, maybe he's an Art student. But no - it turned out he was another life model and there was some confusion in the bookings. I almost never meet other models - it's not in the nature of the job, really - and this was an awkward situation in which to meet, but eventually he seemed to agree with the flustered tutor that he was working for her that evening, and off he went. I wonder if I'll still be doing this job at his age - wow, a scary but interesting thought.
There was a table set up in the centre of the room and the easels all round, and my first 'assignment' was to walk around it and lean on it facing in various directions, for 10 minute poses. The students were studying the anatomy of the upper body, how the rib cage and shoulders move independently of each other. I thought all them were pretty good, and it was a surprise to learn that this was only their second life session. Equally, the tutor seemed very pleased with my work - she commented 'good poses' by my 3rd - and the students agreed that I was remarkably still, 'still on the inside too, like you're meditating'. I generally am...
Of course not working with other models, I have no-one to compare myself with (or should that be 'to'?)(Usually I'm pretty good at grammar, courtesy of my schoolteacher mother who insisted on correct speech at all times).
Ah, that's better, just had a long hot bath after getting the youngest into bed. Yes, the students were appreciative, except for the one I used to know who told the tutor she had great difficulty looking at me because she knows me. It wasn't a problem for me at all, but then I'm used to it.
In the break I decided to take some pictures with my phone, just in case I ever learnt how to add them to this blog. I spent about ten minutes not managing to find the camera option, to my embarrassment - that shows my age, eh? - and had to ask the young lad when he came back in from having a quick fag. There were 8 students in this class, ranging in age from early twenties to sixties at a guess - and he was the only male. So having been shown that the button on the side (the one with a camera icon, surprisingly) was the short cut to the camera, I took a few photos. You'll have to wait for them though. First I have to find out how to email them to my computer...
The second 'half' was a couple of longer poses, and I finished ten minutes early so the tutor could give a quick teaching session on shading and tone. They were working in charcoal on buff sugar-paper, mainly.
Drove home in the rain, but by the time I'd had some brunch (I try to eat very little when I'm posing, purely for reasons of vanity) the sun was out at last. I was yawning, and had to choose between catching an hour's nap before the school run, or going to the gym for my 2nd workout of the week. It was my only chance, I'm busy every other day. I knew that if I slept I'd only feel worse, and the sun gave me a burst of energy - it was quite a serious work-out, motivated by the reading on the scales the day before...
OK, got the kids home, fed them, made myself a sandwich to take for after and a handful of dates for the journey, and I was off again. This was an adult learning evening class, the furthest I go. The traffic was slow and I only just arrived in time - a 45 minute drive, nearly all at 40mph in long queues, which is unusual for these roads - but at least I'd remembered to bring the jingly scarves. They were imitating an artist who drew Malaysian dancers, in wash and line (Degas? oops, not sure, names don't stick in my mind very well). The tutor had brought a jar of cold tea in for anyone who'd forgotten watercolours. She had apparently done Arab-Egyptian dance herself for a couple of years, and had floaty scarves and veils of her own to use as props. And boy, did she work her students hard - not to mention me.
Lots of short poses to start with, in dance positions (as best as I could attempt them, anyway), first with the line followed by wash, then the wash followed by line - and after the break she wanted me to move continually, actually dancing in slow motion, so they could fill a page with as many little figures as they could catch.
I don't like dancing naked in front of a room full of people all watching me intently. Sitting, standing or lying still is fine. I'm good at that. But actually dancing - well, it's not my strong point. I have no dance training - and I know people who have, and I know the difference. Not to mention that it was even more tiring than usual and at the end of a long day. Oh well, it's a good job she's one of my favourite tutors. I forgive her.
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