Shrinking Classes...

Apparently it's week 4 of the semester and the children have discovered they have better things to do than go to class. Like alcohol. As I rode into town to the state university I noticed the bars seemed to be doing brisk business and there was a mad exodus of students heading off campus to bars unknown. It's their tuition money, I guess... or possibly their parents'.

When I got to my life drawing session (with 10 minutes to spare) I noted I was the second person to arrive. No instructor yet (though I'm sure she was around) and one student. I went to the tiny changing room (a corner of the room with a shower curtain to insure my modesty,) took off my motorcycle jacket, disrobed, put on my light-weight blue robe (that fits much better in my motorcycle tail bag than my old, bulky, terrycloth robe), donned my flip-flops, and headed for the posing platform. Yeehah.

As 3:30 post-meridian rolled around only five or six students had filtered into the room. The instructor came in (her class was the first I'd modeled for at this university) and seemed pleasantly surprised to see me. Apparently she was expecting another model but had read the modeling schedule incorrectly. It was reassuring to know she had liked me during that first class and my presence as her model was a good thing.

We finally ended up with a class of about twelve which was much smaller than any class I had modeled for at the university the previous week. Obviously people were missing. The instructor called roll and at least six people were absent. Hopefully their beverages of choice were refreshingly intoxicating.

We actually started out with a six-minute, seated pose which was nice- it gave me a chance to cool off a bit. I was still sweating from rushing to class when I arrived so the six minutes gave all that a chance to evaporate. We moved on to short gestures for contour drawings,scribble drawings, and mass drawings. I had to self-time everything but I'm getting used to doing that- it still feels like it divides my energy a bit...

We moved on to some line drawings generated from longer poses. The instructor kept commenting on how my body was perfect for this exercise. I concentrated on the pose and timing refraining from dwelling on the compliments. I'm not good at taking compliments- I have to hold the world upon my shoulders like Atlas to feel I deserve a compliment. Don't get me wrong- I like getting compliments and I've even learned to say thank you when complimented. But I still feel like I need to do more to earn it.

The poses were not long- the longest one was six minutes but I managed to make them complicated and painful (as usual.) I just don't feel like I've done my job unless I put some effort into my pose. I did a fencing pose (a riposte) for seven minutes which actually fatigued my guard arm. Oddly my sword arm which was extended fully for that same amount of time didn't bother me.

We broke a bit early and the instructor wished the class a good weekend which seemed to be working ahead of the curve- I still had two days of the day job ahead of me before the weekend. I guess the student life is a bit different than the life of the working drone...

The instructor thanked me and complimented me some more as I got down from the platform. I went to the tiny changing booth to get dressed. I realized I was always calling the instructor "professor" and I didn't know if this was how she wanted to be addressed. I went to find her after I was finished dressing but couldn't find her. So instead I went and retrieved my motorcycle and went to Rammy's to get a sandwich.

I hope the twelve students who chose to come to class appreciated my efforts today. I hope those that chose to engage in other activities make it home safe tonight. To those who head to Rammy's to get a sandwich I recommend the "Sawhorse" sandwich. It has horseradish but it's mild. It's a special and not on the regular menu so you'll have to ask if you don't see it on the specials board.