In the Nude

Today I went to my first nude drawing class.

It's Thursday night. I got nothin' going on. Naturally, Daisy's said she was up to something interesting so I downed a lame dinner of half a roast beef wrap and some broccoli and met up with her in front of Kimmel Dining Center.

Daisy isn't an art major, but she has a BBB buddy who is. We grabbed what art stuff we had (cheap pens, but surprisingly good paper) and headed over to the art building across campus.

Things are starting to get cold here at Syracuse University. The days are overcast and misty while the nights are brisk... and still misty. It's not supposed to get over 45 degrees until next Tuesday.

Daisy and I scaled 4 flights of stairs and made passing glances through some studio windows until Daisy spotted naked skin. We stood outside the door and I started forward when Daisy said,

"I don't think I can do this."

I gave her a "Psh, nonsense!" kind of flick of the wrist and pulled the door open. Well, sheesh, everyone stared at us pretty darn coldly for about 5 seconds. There were around 7 artists in a circle surrounding a naked late middle-aged man holding a PVC pipe on his shoulders, posing. We took a seat viewing his wrinkly ass, as if we were warming up for the rest of the nude drawing experience.

Take 1: View from the back

After the first pose, the model took a break and good ole Daisy felt like striking up a jolly convo with him (don't worry, he put on a blue plaid robe, thank goodness). I chatted it up with Daisy's BBB buddy, who is from an all girls catholic school in Oregon. The break ended, the robe came off, and we were off drawing again.

The next two poses rotated around to me and Daisy until man junk was in plain view. I realized that the artists around me focused more on the body and the pose, not the face. Apparently you're supposed to disregard the model's face in this whole process. Woe was me, cuz I'm really used to drawing faces, and I kept making eye contact with this naked old dude because I was trying to get his glasses and nose in the right place. He probably thought I felt sorry for him. I totally didn't. I think he liked his job. According to Daisy, he had been modeling since college (which was probably a million years ago).

Take 2: Drew the first outline without picking up the pen and without looking at the paper.  Modern, ey?

Take 3: Most def my best. Got some criticism about not including some crucial details. Gimme a break. 

Upon leaving, I wanted to know what he and Daisy had been flapping gums about.

"He told me I can totally do modeling if I wanted. He said I'm really in shape... twice. Kinda creepy."

Overall, a successful nude drawing class! Maybe I'll go next Thursday. It felt good to draw again.