Painting Her Portrait

Hi everyone!

First of all, major brownie points to anyone who can name the musical that the song I stole this blog post’s title is from.  Anyone?  (Leave a comment if you know!)

I figured that it would be a fitting title for the subject of this blog entry.  As you might have guessed, my most recent modeling session was a portrait class.  You also might have noticed that I don't often write about what it's like to do a portrait sitting.  The reason for this is because I've only done two of these classes since I began modeling in January.  I tend to get hired for sessions where the students draw my full body as opposed to just my face.  But since last night's booking was a departure from what I normally do, I thought it would be a good idea to share that experience with you all.

You might be wondering how posing for a portrait is different or similar to posing with your entire body.  Well, I'll tell you.  I've come to find that there are two major differences when it comes to portrait sitting.  The first and most visually obvious is that you're clothed when posing for a portrait.  Since the artists tend not to draw their subjects below the waist in a portrait class, it makes sense that the model (or models) in question wouldn't be disrobed.  In addition to drawing a person's face in a class like this, the artists also practice capturing what the model is wearing in their work.  I remember being asked to wear a shirt with an "interesting neckline" before this class began.

The second biggest difference is how much you move around as a model in a portrait class.  I know I've said that a large part of my job is holding still in a variety of poses.  While that is true, I tend not to hold one pose for the entirety of a session.  More often that not, I get to change my pose after a certain amount of time.  Even if I'm asked to hold one pose for the duration of a session, it tends not to be one where I'm sitting upright in a chair, looking straight ahead with a neutral facial expression.

But, as you might have guessed, that's exactly what you do in a portrait sitting.  The students tend to move around the room as time goes by in order to capture different angles of a model's face or to get a new visual perspective.  But as the model in question, you're pretty stagnant.  After all, it's not called a "portrait sitting" for nothing!  You might think that sitting still for twenty minutes at a time, having a five minute break, then repeating these two things over and over again until the class ends would be pretty boring.  But, as it turns out, posing for a portrait can be just as interesting as full body modeling.

One of the cool things about the portrait I've done is that I haven't been the only model present.  In fact, I was one of three modelings being drawn last night.  This was especially fun, because it gave me a chance to get to know the other people I got to pose with.  One of the models I talked to had been art modeling over twenty years.  Twenty years!  She also told me that she had taken some time away from it later in life to settle down and start a family, but she returned to modeling as a way to make some extra money after she retired.  The other model that was there told me that he had just started art modeling about two weeks ago, and that he had been working a series of odd jobs to help support his writing career.  It was absolutely fascinating to hear both of their stories.

I also got the chance to talk with some of the artists.  Everyone was incredibly nice and more than willing to show their work to me.  The portraits they did of me were great.  It still blows my mind that an artist can create something like that in only a few hours.  Getting to chat with them about what else I do for work outside of art modeling was also nice.  Making those kind of connections is always rewarding during a session.

And there you have it.  Now, it's time for dinner, a quick workout, and some well deserved chillaxing.  Thanks again for your continued support of my blog!

See you soon!