A Model Life - Mae in Paris
I like Paris, and I was more than happy to head back for another 5 days to be an artists model. The apartment in Montmartre squeezed three of us in and a bunch of in progress works. A studio apartment in St Michel overlooking the River Seine and Notre Dame was the scene for some Matisse inspired works where we worked each day, watching the tourists, the tour boats and Parisian life in general whizz by.
Anook, the other model, managed to take me out one day to the museum of medieval artifacts to see The Unicorn and The Lady tapestries, I can't believe I hadn't know they were there! We had a lovely few days posing in situ with croissants and tea, and fruit and Anook's amazing lunch salads. One night we went to the oldest church in Paris, just around the corner, and caught a Django Reinhardt concert in complete acoustic form!
Posing took many forms, one saw us pouring over a chess board where Anook and I actually reminded ourselves how to play and had a couple of valiantly fought games over an entire afternoon, another sitting by the window, or cautiously peeping out. The police headquarters were just across the river from us, so any rudey nudie poses had to be covert and out of view of the police. One day the weather was so fine and warm (low 20s - amazing for October!) that we actually had the windows open and I got to lean out of them for a pose. It was great fun watching people bustle by and only a few caught sight of me, one or two even took a photo.
Before I had arrived the others had had a full day in the St Michel apartment and had identified a spot along the river walk on the opposite bank that seemed to attract hanky panky. This theory was tested out when a couple, or at least a man and a woman, walking past in earnest and gesticular conversation paused under the spot for some time, eventually embracing and possibly having a sneaky kiss. It wasn't quite the passionate, nearly pornographic encounter the others had seen originally, but entertaining none the less. It was such beautiful weather that we decided to head out for dinner and found a bistro around the corner where we dined outside, an absolute extravagance given the unseasonably fine weather.
Our last night in the St Michel apartment saw us finish up posing by lunchtime and spend the afternoon returning the apartment to normal and taking all the artworks and painting equipment with us back to Montmartre. But before leaving, we did have a celebration! A number of Anook's friends from around the world happened to be in Paris to they were all invited around for bubbly, dips, baguette and all manner of warm and friendly conversation.
On our last day in Paris saw me pop off to the Pompedieu centre to take in the extraordinary collection of Modern Art by many of my favourite artists. The others were out at a Hamman, a turkish bath, which I would have liked to go to, but I also wanted to visit the museums I had missed previously. After such a relaxing few days in Paris, it was sad to leave, but I was sick of carrying the backpack that had accompanied me for the past 5 months and I was glad to catch the Eurostar back to London and make my way back to Guildford to rest my weary backpack.
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