- The pose that nearly did me in
I modeled for the first time today in nearly two months (hence the dearth of blog posts.) How did it go? It went nicely, thank you. A dozen of some of my very favorite artists, a piping hot pumpkin latte to drink on my breaks, and an eclectic mix of music coming from Pandora.
Actually, let’s go so far as to call it an eccentric mix of music coming from Pandora. I’m not sure what combination of music preferences got us Moonlight Sonata, Van Morrison, Barry White, and some Spanish guitar (if you know me, you know I hate me some Spanish guitar, especially when modeling.)
Still would have been okay, though, if I hadn’t ignored the number one bit of advice I hand out to new models. All in unison, please. “Practice your poses before you do them in front of a group!” The one in the photograph above I have had in mind for months. I love how the weight of the jug accentuates the curves in her body and the angles in her arms and shoulders.
But what did I use as my jug? A nice, lightweight beach ball? A big round pillow? Oh, no, those would have made too much sense. Instead I picked up my eight-pound medicine ball and hoisted it onto my shoulder for a twenty minute pose. Let’s count how long twenty minutes lasted with that thing on my shoulder. One…two…three…four….five minutes and then I was done.
Fortunately, as I said, the artists in the room were a friendly and forgiving bunch, and didn’t mind when our long pose suddenly became a gesture. And, I’m checking now, and it doesn’t seem like a giant bruise has formed where the medicine ball dug into my collarbone. At least not yet…
Onward to my next modeling assignment on Thursday, a little wiser.
Maybe someone makes Styrofoam jugs.
I like the way you think! Anything but a medicine ball….
Just to let you know, it took a great deal of self control for me to refrain from making any remarks about a figure model and her jugs.
Sigh… and you ALMOST made it.
Welcome back! I’ve missed your posts. Yes, always practice a pose beforehand! I learned that with a ten-minute bending over and touching my toes pose. Ouch, that still hurts just remembering it.
If there are any craft stores in your area, you can buy styrofoam in various shapes & sizes. Depending on how motivated you are, you can cut and shape them into whatever object you want.
Speaking of difficult poses…….
I had my first figure session (sculpture class) last night. It was a great experience except that the pose the instructor and I came up with to accentuate my body style was a real killer. The best way I could describe it would be – an ancient warrior on a mountain side, knocked down, holding up a sword as if fighting off a dragon (must slay dragon to make loincloth…..). I’m sitting on a box about a foot off the platform, one leg bent the other straight, torso twisted 90 degrees, leaning back propped up on an elbow with my other arm grabbing a rope to hold it up (like a cable crossover machine at the gym). My shoulder and hips were screaming at the end of the night. I was able to hold it for 20 mins at a time, but wow, that hurt. I get to hold the same pose again next Thursday as well, thinking about how to be prepared for it this time. Other than that, it was a cool experience. Gotta admit though, when you’re nude, any comment by the instructor to the students can be taken out of context and become very unflattering if you imagine it directed at you. Also, students using their sighting sticks to gauge proportions……. its best to keep your gaze high and try not to notice, especially when they use a knife to sight with. It didn’t dawn on me that the students work on moving tables and rotate around me, so partway through the first pose I had to readjust my various alignment lines.
One question I have is: Do you significantly alter your eating / drinking on modeling days? I got the bright idea that I’ll look my best if I starve and dehydrate myself all day and then grab a second workout right before the class. All I ate that day was a Men’s Health muscle salad (jul/aug2011, p.48) several hours before the class. Bad idea. Before class I was cramping up and getting dizzy, a bottle of gatorade got me through the session, but I think that may have contributed to the discomfort. I’ll be smarter next time.
Oh, dear, I seriously feel your pain. I had a pose for a sculpture class that was on top of a rickety table and I kept feeling like it would collapse. I personally take a lot of snacks because being hungry is painful when trying to hold still! And otherwise, just enforce the 20 minutes, then a break rule right from the start of class – if you try to gut out more than that you’ll never make it. On the bright side, it sounds like a great pose! I did like seeing the sculptures people made of me…
Congratulations, Alan, on getting through your first figure session! That first moment after you dropped the robe was a bit intense, no? And, yes, it does take some time to get used to hearing the instructor talk about one’s parts (an instructor once put me in a semi-awkward pose to feature my hamstring muscle, so that led to a great deal of discussion about my butt). That pose you were in sounds truly terrible. I can’t imagine having to hold that for an entire class, much less having to do it all over again.
I always eat a light meal before a session. I try to pick something very bland, such as a turkey sandwich or a bowl of soup, that won’t rumble around noisily in my stomach while I’m standing up there. And you definitely need to be hydrated. I drink quite a bit of water beforehand and bring a large water bottle with me. I don’t usually snack during a session.
Actually, dropping the robe was a complete non-event. I was so concerned with the pose, doing a good job, getting the class moving on time and thus maximize my chances of getting referrals, that getting nude in front of about 9 people for the first time wasn’t even on my radar screen. The students were all busy shaping their bases and spraying clay with water and everything else they do, I’m not sure anyone was looking until I was already in the position. I’ve gotten booked for an open drawing session next week, even though that won’t be a first, I’ll pay attention to see if disrobing there seems more significant.
Kim – I definitely want to take a pic or two of some of the final sculptures if I can, by the end they were really starting to look good. Thats one of the reasons for doing this, helping to create art that someone will value for years to come. If someone creates a sculpture, based on me, that they’ll proudly display, thats a pretty cool feeling.
Thanks for writing, both of you! Someday I will tell you about the time I had Mexican food before modeling…
Mexican food before modeling seems like a really, really bad idea. Another bad idea is finishing a 10k less than an hour before modeling (I wasn’t scheduled to model that day–I filled in for a no-show). But, yes, we do want to hear about the Mexican food session.