A Model Life - More than you bargained for
My previous post reminded me of a couple of things I like about modelling at the ArtHouse which amuse me and I haven't told you about yet!
As I said, it's open to the public and you get a wide age range of people coming, many are obviously students, others would be approaching retirement. It's a nice ecclectic mix really.
Some of you will have been to the Arthouse, but for the rest, let me tell you a little about the venue. It's an old School of Arts and as such has a number of levels. Life Drawing takes place on the second floor in the Dome Restaurant area on Monday nights.
The ceiling of the Dome restaurant is often a focus of my attention, so I've spent many many minutes staring at the designs and appreciating the Art Deco style of the place. It's much nicer to stare at the ceiling than at the carpet, the other location of much of my viewing/ focusing time, either that or to the wall that always has a light pointed straight at me trying to blind me.
If you want to know what it's like to model, without actually taking your clothes off and doing it, just sit on a chair or stand up for 2-5 mins without moving, staring at a ceiling, wall or floor with someone close by scribbling a pencil on paper, that's pretty much it.
Anyway, the ArtHouse does have some extra viewing options (I find looking at people drawing you a. freaks you out and b. puts them waaaay off), the venue has large windows that look out over Pitt St.
The ArtHouse has 2 podiums (for lack of a better description) for the models to pose upon, the room is an L shape so the podiums are at the Pitt St (my usual) and George St ends. Effectively both spots have people drawing from a 180 degree view.
From the Pitt St podium, which is quite close to the window, I can look down to Pitt St and see people scurrying along the footpath, but that's not so good for keeping your balance. I did a few weeks in a month once and got quite used to watching someone's 7pm Boxing class. They were in a high rise building visible from the Pitt St window and were a good number of floors higer up than me, sure if they went to their window, looked down and knew where to look, they'd probably have noticed me, but not a whole lot of details to be seen from that distance.
The ArtHouse also faces in to the The Galleries Victoria, those in Sydney will know it, but for those playing along outside the CBD, the Galleries Victoria is essentially a multilevel shopping centre with a focus on fashion stores, boutiques and specialty shops, it's across the road from the QVB. So the George St Podium isn't quite as close as the Pitt St podium to a window, but the large windows at the George St end do look out to the top floor of TGV.
One of the few times I had the George St Podium, I remember standing there for probably a 5 min pose, and watched a guy pacing backwards and forwards on the top level (most things are closed after 6pm on a Monday) of TGV on his mobile, obviously having some significant conversation. After a while he stops and leans on the railing of the walkway he was on which looks down through the centre of the building to the ground floor of the centre. Then, while still talking animatedly, he looks up, across the expanse to the otherside of the centre, to the windows, on the otherside of which I was standing nude, looking straight at him. There was a pause, a double take. Another pause in the conversation and a dumbstruck look on his face, a hurried word and the phone call was ended. He kind of paused, looking a bit lost, finally looked away and left. I had to try hard not to laugh out loud at that response, and I choose to believe my presence interrupted his train of thought and thus the conversation... it's my story, I'm sticking with it.
Speaking of laughing out loud, last time I modelled, I did actually lose my compsure and giggle a bit. During the first half and the model breaks, drinking is big business, and therefore the bar staff are quite engaged with what they're doing. In the later part of the night, they're pretty bored, having washed up all the galsses, dried them and put them away with no-one really going out of their way to buy a drink. So last time, I sat, staring at the bar for a 10 - 15 min pose. The bar staff were in their own little world and I watched while they daggy danced to each song that came on. Two bar girls dancing stupidly was to amusing not to crack a smile and giggle at. Someone even asked me about it after and I had to explain. The I went and told the girls, they were amused and a little embarrassed.
You never know what you'll see at the Arthouse, the first time I modelled there, it was a last minute "please can you come? we neeeeed you!". I didn't have anything appropriate to wear (taking your street clothes off is usually a bit disconcerting and uncomfortable, so generally a wrap or easy to slip off dress is the outfit of choice to cover your nudity before and after modelling), so they gave me a length of satin to wrap around myself. I popped to the loo half a floor down to change and came back up the stairs to discover the back door had in fact locked behind me. *shit* At that point I had to walk down the stairs, through the back beer garden, through the central hallway, past the main entrance and up the steps with the punters to get back in - all while wrapped in a length of cumbersome black satin and carrying my clothes. I got some looks in the Beer Garden, that's for sure.
But lastly, and my most favourite amusing, recurring thing, happens while I pose on the Pitt St podium. Like I said, large windows, probably 2 ft high. Looks straight out over Pitt St a floor up from ground level. I love (and stifle a giggle) everytime the Monorail goes past, and all the tourists, families, oldies and general punters, are staring out the windows looking at Sydney go by, and suddenly there's me naked, looking back at them trying not to grin stupidly! I can only imagine the double takes, the 'did I just see that's, oh and the number of kids who have seen me and many other models through the Monorail window and tried to tell disbelieving (looking other way) parents... hahahaha!
As I said, it's open to the public and you get a wide age range of people coming, many are obviously students, others would be approaching retirement. It's a nice ecclectic mix really.
Some of you will have been to the Arthouse, but for the rest, let me tell you a little about the venue. It's an old School of Arts and as such has a number of levels. Life Drawing takes place on the second floor in the Dome Restaurant area on Monday nights.
The ceiling of the Dome restaurant is often a focus of my attention, so I've spent many many minutes staring at the designs and appreciating the Art Deco style of the place. It's much nicer to stare at the ceiling than at the carpet, the other location of much of my viewing/ focusing time, either that or to the wall that always has a light pointed straight at me trying to blind me.
If you want to know what it's like to model, without actually taking your clothes off and doing it, just sit on a chair or stand up for 2-5 mins without moving, staring at a ceiling, wall or floor with someone close by scribbling a pencil on paper, that's pretty much it.
Anyway, the ArtHouse does have some extra viewing options (I find looking at people drawing you a. freaks you out and b. puts them waaaay off), the venue has large windows that look out over Pitt St.
The ArtHouse has 2 podiums (for lack of a better description) for the models to pose upon, the room is an L shape so the podiums are at the Pitt St (my usual) and George St ends. Effectively both spots have people drawing from a 180 degree view.
From the Pitt St podium, which is quite close to the window, I can look down to Pitt St and see people scurrying along the footpath, but that's not so good for keeping your balance. I did a few weeks in a month once and got quite used to watching someone's 7pm Boxing class. They were in a high rise building visible from the Pitt St window and were a good number of floors higer up than me, sure if they went to their window, looked down and knew where to look, they'd probably have noticed me, but not a whole lot of details to be seen from that distance.
The ArtHouse also faces in to the The Galleries Victoria, those in Sydney will know it, but for those playing along outside the CBD, the Galleries Victoria is essentially a multilevel shopping centre with a focus on fashion stores, boutiques and specialty shops, it's across the road from the QVB. So the George St Podium isn't quite as close as the Pitt St podium to a window, but the large windows at the George St end do look out to the top floor of TGV.
One of the few times I had the George St Podium, I remember standing there for probably a 5 min pose, and watched a guy pacing backwards and forwards on the top level (most things are closed after 6pm on a Monday) of TGV on his mobile, obviously having some significant conversation. After a while he stops and leans on the railing of the walkway he was on which looks down through the centre of the building to the ground floor of the centre. Then, while still talking animatedly, he looks up, across the expanse to the otherside of the centre, to the windows, on the otherside of which I was standing nude, looking straight at him. There was a pause, a double take. Another pause in the conversation and a dumbstruck look on his face, a hurried word and the phone call was ended. He kind of paused, looking a bit lost, finally looked away and left. I had to try hard not to laugh out loud at that response, and I choose to believe my presence interrupted his train of thought and thus the conversation... it's my story, I'm sticking with it.
Speaking of laughing out loud, last time I modelled, I did actually lose my compsure and giggle a bit. During the first half and the model breaks, drinking is big business, and therefore the bar staff are quite engaged with what they're doing. In the later part of the night, they're pretty bored, having washed up all the galsses, dried them and put them away with no-one really going out of their way to buy a drink. So last time, I sat, staring at the bar for a 10 - 15 min pose. The bar staff were in their own little world and I watched while they daggy danced to each song that came on. Two bar girls dancing stupidly was to amusing not to crack a smile and giggle at. Someone even asked me about it after and I had to explain. The I went and told the girls, they were amused and a little embarrassed.
You never know what you'll see at the Arthouse, the first time I modelled there, it was a last minute "please can you come? we neeeeed you!". I didn't have anything appropriate to wear (taking your street clothes off is usually a bit disconcerting and uncomfortable, so generally a wrap or easy to slip off dress is the outfit of choice to cover your nudity before and after modelling), so they gave me a length of satin to wrap around myself. I popped to the loo half a floor down to change and came back up the stairs to discover the back door had in fact locked behind me. *shit* At that point I had to walk down the stairs, through the back beer garden, through the central hallway, past the main entrance and up the steps with the punters to get back in - all while wrapped in a length of cumbersome black satin and carrying my clothes. I got some looks in the Beer Garden, that's for sure.
But lastly, and my most favourite amusing, recurring thing, happens while I pose on the Pitt St podium. Like I said, large windows, probably 2 ft high. Looks straight out over Pitt St a floor up from ground level. I love (and stifle a giggle) everytime the Monorail goes past, and all the tourists, families, oldies and general punters, are staring out the windows looking at Sydney go by, and suddenly there's me naked, looking back at them trying not to grin stupidly! I can only imagine the double takes, the 'did I just see that's, oh and the number of kids who have seen me and many other models through the Monorail window and tried to tell disbelieving (looking other way) parents... hahahaha!