With great relief and sadness, I report that I have accepted a new full-time IT position and that I will start my new job on March 13th. I am relieved that our family income will now be restored to 2012 levels, meaning that we can continue paying the mortgage, car payment, etc. I am sad because my availability to model will be drastically cut from what it has been these past two months.
Since the semester started in mid-January, I have had a wonderful time modeling fifteen to twenty hours per week at several different schools. Instead of getting up and going to a job that I felt like I had to go to, I got to go to a job that I loved. Every modeling gig I had, I went with the attitude that I was privileged to be there and that I was going to give those students or those artists the best session that any model could ever give. I was having so much fun that I was beginning to look at home-based businesses and work-from-home opportunities just to keep my days open to model while still bringing in enough money to live on. But alas, nothing I saw started out paying as much as a full time information technology position would, and I need the income now. In the current economy, I feel fortunate to have gotten a new job after only two months off.
I did push my start date back a couple of weeks to accommodate all the model bookings I had. Yesterday, I had to cancel my only long-range bookings (four dates in April at Mountain View College), and doing so nearly broke my heart. I hate having to cancel any model booking. Counting the two classes I did yesterday (at two different schools), I will have 19 hours of modeling this week. I also have a Tuesday morning session at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center next week, the day before I start my new job.
I will still model evenings and weekends, but most of the soliciting I've done for the current semester has been for weekday classes. I don't have much going on in the evenings this spring, so I may not get to model much for a little while after I start my new job. But I will definitely keep modeling for whatever sessions I can get; I plan on doing it until I get so old and decrepit that I can no longer hold a pose...
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Van Cliburn
I had a fun class at Mountain View College in Dallas this morning, but in the middle of it, I learned via news on my smartphone that local pianist and icon Van Cliburn had passed away. He'd suffered with bone cancer for the past view months, so his passing was expected but still sad.
Van Cliburn first came to prominence in 1958 when he did what was previously thought impossible: he, an American, won the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. I attended a concert on December 31, 1990 in which he played with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the experience of seeing him play his signature piece, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, live is something that I will never forget. I also attended the first official baseball game ever played at the Texas Rangers' Ballpark in Arlington in 1994, and Van Cliburn and the Fort Worth Symphony played the National Anthem before the game. That remains the most amazing rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" that I've ever heard.
And some time in 1998, I was shopping for DVDs at a BestBuy close to my apartment. When I turned to look at another rack, I was surprised to see Van Cliburn standing next to me. I said, "Excuse me, but you look just like Van Cliburn." He smiled, offered his hand, and said, "That's because I am Van Cliburn." We had a nice little conversation, and I told him about the times I had seen him play. He remembered that New Year's Eve concert very fondly.
Here's video of Van Cliburn playing the first ten minutes of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, taken in Moscow during his return trip there in 1962. I wish I could find video of the entire piece, but this will have to do. Rest in Peace Van Cliburn.
ADDENDUM: I know I posted this last week, but I have to add an addendum here. I found a video of that National Anthem performance at the opening of the Ballpark in Arlington, attached to the article here: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130227&content_id=42075048&vkey=news_tex&c_id=tex
Van Cliburn first came to prominence in 1958 when he did what was previously thought impossible: he, an American, won the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. I attended a concert on December 31, 1990 in which he played with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the experience of seeing him play his signature piece, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, live is something that I will never forget. I also attended the first official baseball game ever played at the Texas Rangers' Ballpark in Arlington in 1994, and Van Cliburn and the Fort Worth Symphony played the National Anthem before the game. That remains the most amazing rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" that I've ever heard.
And some time in 1998, I was shopping for DVDs at a BestBuy close to my apartment. When I turned to look at another rack, I was surprised to see Van Cliburn standing next to me. I said, "Excuse me, but you look just like Van Cliburn." He smiled, offered his hand, and said, "That's because I am Van Cliburn." We had a nice little conversation, and I told him about the times I had seen him play. He remembered that New Year's Eve concert very fondly.
Here's video of Van Cliburn playing the first ten minutes of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, taken in Moscow during his return trip there in 1962. I wish I could find video of the entire piece, but this will have to do. Rest in Peace Van Cliburn.
ADDENDUM: I know I posted this last week, but I have to add an addendum here. I found a video of that National Anthem performance at the opening of the Ballpark in Arlington, attached to the article here: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130227&content_id=42075048&vkey=news_tex&c_id=tex
Monday, February 25, 2013
Perspective
It's Monday night, and I still haven't heard anything about the two job interviews I had last week. I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing, even though I know I can't go on like this forever. I feel like I'm having the time of my life, but I'm sacrificing financial security and peace of mind for that time. I woke up this morning, knowing that I would get to model for an 8:00 to 11:00 class and an 11:00 to 2:00 class at the University of North Texas. And then I thought about how wonderful it would be if I always had a job that I "got to" go to rather than "had to" go to.
Anyway, my two classes were both Drawing II classes at UNT, in the same room, and today they were doing an exercise on perspective. There was a large rectangle on the floor, and the students were supposed to draw that rectangle, preferably from a corner. I would then take three different poses in that rectangle, and the students would have to draw all three figures on the same drawing. They would all be standing poses, so my eye level was supposed to be at the same height on the paper in all the poses. Here's a picture of the room this morning, with the rectangle laid out with masking tape on the floor.
It's a little different feel being off the model stand and on the floor at the same level as the students. I kind of like it, and I like doing the standing poses. The only bad thing about the whole thing was winding up with charcoal all over my feet from the floor. In fact, I gave up on my slippers early on, and just went barefoot the whole day. My feet were a mess when it was all over.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Illness, Unemployment, and Job Interviews
I've had a wonderfully busy six weeks of modeling. My long pose at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art is now in its fifth week, and the pieces that are being produced are looking fantastic. I took this picture in the middle of week three...
I'm not crazy about a back pose since I have to spend all my time looking at the wall, but I do love the work that is being done by the artists. I wound up catching the flu during the second week of this pose. I felt fine for the Tuesday session, but by Wednesday night, my head was pounding with a fever of 101 degrees. I didn't feel any better Thursday morning, and I had chills. I didn't want to cancel the session since they couldn't very well hire a sub for this long pose. I was bundled up at home and couldn't stop shivering, and I wondered how I could model nude and be able to hold a pose. I had some 800mg Ibuprofen pills left from a bout with strep throat the previous year, and I took one of those. My fever went down, and the chills stopped. So, I went to TAFA to model. Since I was facing the wall, I wasn't breathing toward anyone, and I made it a point to keep to myself during that session and not speak to any of the artists. As far as I know, no one caught the flu from me. I don't recommend modeling with such an illness, and I probably wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been in the middle of a continuing pose like this. I have to say probably though since I like to maintain my reputation as a dependable model, one who is going to show up on time every time.
I've also modeled for multiple sessions at Mountain View College and the University of North Texas. I did a Friday evening with some very talented teenagers from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. My session a few weeks ago at Friday Night Lights and Shadows went well. I was able to hold the Dying Slave pose for the entire three hours with regular breaks. The more I model, the more I love modeling. I wish there were only some way I could do it full time and make a real living at it.
I've been on unemployment since the start of January. The salary at my old job was such that I am getting the maximum unemployment benefit, $440.00 per week. The maximum allowed earnings on unemployment is 125% of that, or $550. So, if I make $110 or less modeling in a week, I still get $440 dollars in unemployment compensation. If I make $120 modeling, I get $430 in unemployment, and if I make $150 modeling in a week, I get $400 in unemployment. And so on...
I've been talking to recruiters and sending out resumes regularly since before I was laid off, but I've not had any serious job prospects until this week. I have an interview tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:00 before I go model at TAFA that afternoon. Depending on how long the interview goes, I may have to show up at TAFA in a suit and tie before stripping down to nothing. Talk about contrasts. But I would take nude over a suit any day and for any class. I also have an interview with another company the following day. So things are looking up on the job front. I hate to think of having to give up all this modeling availability, but my family and I need some financial stability and security, something only a full-time job will bring.
I'm not crazy about a back pose since I have to spend all my time looking at the wall, but I do love the work that is being done by the artists. I wound up catching the flu during the second week of this pose. I felt fine for the Tuesday session, but by Wednesday night, my head was pounding with a fever of 101 degrees. I didn't feel any better Thursday morning, and I had chills. I didn't want to cancel the session since they couldn't very well hire a sub for this long pose. I was bundled up at home and couldn't stop shivering, and I wondered how I could model nude and be able to hold a pose. I had some 800mg Ibuprofen pills left from a bout with strep throat the previous year, and I took one of those. My fever went down, and the chills stopped. So, I went to TAFA to model. Since I was facing the wall, I wasn't breathing toward anyone, and I made it a point to keep to myself during that session and not speak to any of the artists. As far as I know, no one caught the flu from me. I don't recommend modeling with such an illness, and I probably wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been in the middle of a continuing pose like this. I have to say probably though since I like to maintain my reputation as a dependable model, one who is going to show up on time every time.
I've also modeled for multiple sessions at Mountain View College and the University of North Texas. I did a Friday evening with some very talented teenagers from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. My session a few weeks ago at Friday Night Lights and Shadows went well. I was able to hold the Dying Slave pose for the entire three hours with regular breaks. The more I model, the more I love modeling. I wish there were only some way I could do it full time and make a real living at it.
I've been on unemployment since the start of January. The salary at my old job was such that I am getting the maximum unemployment benefit, $440.00 per week. The maximum allowed earnings on unemployment is 125% of that, or $550. So, if I make $110 or less modeling in a week, I still get $440 dollars in unemployment compensation. If I make $120 modeling, I get $430 in unemployment, and if I make $150 modeling in a week, I get $400 in unemployment. And so on...
I've been talking to recruiters and sending out resumes regularly since before I was laid off, but I've not had any serious job prospects until this week. I have an interview tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:00 before I go model at TAFA that afternoon. Depending on how long the interview goes, I may have to show up at TAFA in a suit and tie before stripping down to nothing. Talk about contrasts. But I would take nude over a suit any day and for any class. I also have an interview with another company the following day. So things are looking up on the job front. I hate to think of having to give up all this modeling availability, but my family and I need some financial stability and security, something only a full-time job will bring.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Blogging for a Year
I took a look back at the blog and saw that today marks the one year anniversary of the first blog post. Since then, I have made 36 entries, about one every week and a half or so. Not too bad.
I've been taking advantage of my free time to model a lot lately. I'm currently two weeks into a multi-week long pose at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art. Throughout my modeling career, I have loved doing the short pose sessions, ones that start with quick one to three minute gesture poses before moving on to twenty or thirty minute ones. I've always been complimented on my gestures. But lately, I've been wanting to be a part of something that will last and that might be seen in galleries, etc. So I have volunteered for some long poses. The one I'm doing at TAFA will last five or six weeks.
I also took on a challenging three-hour pose this past Friday night for a group of artists and painters, called Friday Night Lights and Shadows. At my suggestion, I did a close approximation of Michelangelo's Dying Slave sculpture. I did it not because I'm a masochist but because I truly wanted to see something special in the pieces that night. Unfortunately, I spent all my break time recooperating my body and trying to stay loose, so I didn't see much of the art work produced. But maybe I'll be surprised one day and see one on exhibit somewhere...
I've been taking advantage of my free time to model a lot lately. I'm currently two weeks into a multi-week long pose at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art. Throughout my modeling career, I have loved doing the short pose sessions, ones that start with quick one to three minute gesture poses before moving on to twenty or thirty minute ones. I've always been complimented on my gestures. But lately, I've been wanting to be a part of something that will last and that might be seen in galleries, etc. So I have volunteered for some long poses. The one I'm doing at TAFA will last five or six weeks.
I also took on a challenging three-hour pose this past Friday night for a group of artists and painters, called Friday Night Lights and Shadows. At my suggestion, I did a close approximation of Michelangelo's Dying Slave sculpture. I did it not because I'm a masochist but because I truly wanted to see something special in the pieces that night. Unfortunately, I spent all my break time recooperating my body and trying to stay loose, so I didn't see much of the art work produced. But maybe I'll be surprised one day and see one on exhibit somewhere...
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Health and Absurdity
I have a confession to make: I hate going to the doctor. I don't like to be poked or prodded or inspected. That may seem strange coming from someone who routinely presents his nude body for study to entire classes of art students. But modeling for art classes is easy compared to going to the doctor. First of all, I get paid for modeling; I have to pay to have a doctor look at me. Going to the doctor is also an admission of fragility or fallibility, something that is not easy for some of us guys to do. And finally, there is that ultimate fear that the doctor might find something seriously wrong.
So, I usually put off going to the doctor unless I'm in really bad shape. I go when I have a fever or when my throat is so raw that I can't speak. Other than that, my wife has to make me go. A little over a year ago, I was having issues with urination. I was going more often than usual, and I was producing a rather weak stream. I didn't think much of it at the time; in fact, I don't think I really noticed the issue until I was in a pose in a drawing class. I got the feeling that I needed to pee, a feeling which only got stronger as the pose went on. Once the teacher called a break, I quickly donned the robe and headed toward the men's room. I got barely a trickle out once I got there. "Really?" I thought. I had felt about to bust for just this little amount?
I got back in another pose, and the feeling hit me again. It was like that the entire class. Once it was over, and once I was clothed and out in the textiled world, I went on about my business. I didn't feel any different. When I had to pee, I went to the restroom. I chalked up my experience in that class to an off day. Maybe I had a little virus or something that would quickly go away.
The next class I did was a double model session. We were to do one pose for the entire three hours. Rhia, the beautiful young female model sharing the platform with me, took a reclining pose. I did a standing pose behind her. It didn't take too long for that feeling of needing to pee to hit me. At one point, I asked Jim, the instructor, for a break (something I never do) to make a run to the restroom. Once again, I got barely a trickle, and the feeling of needing to pee wasn't even relieved. I got back into pose, and spent the rest of the class with the mortal fear that I was going to pee on the reclining girl in front of me. I went to the restroom at every break, but produced very little actual urine. It was excruciating, but what could I do? I finished the class, probably the most difficult class I've ever had to endure, and I am happy to report that Rhia never got peed on.
I went to the doctor the very next day. She did a quick rectal exam and told me that I had a greatly enlarged prostate. She had a blood test done, and as I waited for the results in the examining room, that big C word, cancer, never left my mind. The doctor came back in and said that the tests were negative; that my prostate was just enlarged. She gave me some pills to help shrink it back down, and I breathed a big sigh of relief.
So I can credit modeling with helping me stay aware of my body and of anything that feels wrong. How long might I have gone on with my enlarged prostate if I hadn't been modeling? And what if something had been more seriously wrong while I put off going to the doctor? They say that early detection helps save lives, so modeling would have helped save mine. I have always loved modeling for a variety of reasons, but my health had never been one of them until the prostate incident last year. Now I have even more reasons to love it.
And in how many jobs can one find oneself in the absurd situtation of being in fear of peeing on someone while having to maintain the same position for an extended period of time?
So, I usually put off going to the doctor unless I'm in really bad shape. I go when I have a fever or when my throat is so raw that I can't speak. Other than that, my wife has to make me go. A little over a year ago, I was having issues with urination. I was going more often than usual, and I was producing a rather weak stream. I didn't think much of it at the time; in fact, I don't think I really noticed the issue until I was in a pose in a drawing class. I got the feeling that I needed to pee, a feeling which only got stronger as the pose went on. Once the teacher called a break, I quickly donned the robe and headed toward the men's room. I got barely a trickle out once I got there. "Really?" I thought. I had felt about to bust for just this little amount?
I got back in another pose, and the feeling hit me again. It was like that the entire class. Once it was over, and once I was clothed and out in the textiled world, I went on about my business. I didn't feel any different. When I had to pee, I went to the restroom. I chalked up my experience in that class to an off day. Maybe I had a little virus or something that would quickly go away.
The next class I did was a double model session. We were to do one pose for the entire three hours. Rhia, the beautiful young female model sharing the platform with me, took a reclining pose. I did a standing pose behind her. It didn't take too long for that feeling of needing to pee to hit me. At one point, I asked Jim, the instructor, for a break (something I never do) to make a run to the restroom. Once again, I got barely a trickle, and the feeling of needing to pee wasn't even relieved. I got back into pose, and spent the rest of the class with the mortal fear that I was going to pee on the reclining girl in front of me. I went to the restroom at every break, but produced very little actual urine. It was excruciating, but what could I do? I finished the class, probably the most difficult class I've ever had to endure, and I am happy to report that Rhia never got peed on.
I went to the doctor the very next day. She did a quick rectal exam and told me that I had a greatly enlarged prostate. She had a blood test done, and as I waited for the results in the examining room, that big C word, cancer, never left my mind. The doctor came back in and said that the tests were negative; that my prostate was just enlarged. She gave me some pills to help shrink it back down, and I breathed a big sigh of relief.
So I can credit modeling with helping me stay aware of my body and of anything that feels wrong. How long might I have gone on with my enlarged prostate if I hadn't been modeling? And what if something had been more seriously wrong while I put off going to the doctor? They say that early detection helps save lives, so modeling would have helped save mine. I have always loved modeling for a variety of reasons, but my health had never been one of them until the prostate incident last year. Now I have even more reasons to love it.
And in how many jobs can one find oneself in the absurd situtation of being in fear of peeing on someone while having to maintain the same position for an extended period of time?
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Reading
My full-time job came to an end on December 31 (the details of my lay-off can be found here). I've kept busy with other things the past couple of weeks, but I am happy that the new semester is starting up. I had two modeling gigs today, after almost a month without any. The session this morning was at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, but only one artist showed up. We had a dusting of sleet and snow overnight here in Fort Worth, and I surmise that the weather kept the other attendees away. People around here don't know how to drive in winter weather, so it doesn't take much to bring things to a standstill.
The lady who did come to draw arrived twenty minutes late. When she walked into the room, I was sitting on the model platform in my robe reading a copy of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. (I read a lot of Presidential biographies.) She suggested that I continue reading while she drew. I had never read while in a pose. I did a couple of double-model classes a year or two ago at Texas Woman's University, and the other model on the platform with me would read her book during the longer poses. I didn't say anything to anybody because I like to allow the instructor to be in charge of everything, but reading during a pose just seemed to be disrespectful to the students. How could the artists draw that model's hands when she was regularly moving them to turn the pages of her book? I guess I take the view that I'm not going to do my personal reading when I'm getting paid to model for a class.
But today, the only attendee at the morning session was insistent that I read while she drew, so I did. I read about 70 pages during the two hours that she drew me.
The afternoon session was at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art. I did a three hour long standing pose. A lot of models don't like standing poses, but I don't mind them. At least one of my feet usually goes to sleep during seated poses, but I don't have that problem when standing. The students' drawings were, as usual at TAFA, outstanding. I'll be at TAFA every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the next few weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing more amazing drawings of myself.
The lady who did come to draw arrived twenty minutes late. When she walked into the room, I was sitting on the model platform in my robe reading a copy of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. (I read a lot of Presidential biographies.) She suggested that I continue reading while she drew. I had never read while in a pose. I did a couple of double-model classes a year or two ago at Texas Woman's University, and the other model on the platform with me would read her book during the longer poses. I didn't say anything to anybody because I like to allow the instructor to be in charge of everything, but reading during a pose just seemed to be disrespectful to the students. How could the artists draw that model's hands when she was regularly moving them to turn the pages of her book? I guess I take the view that I'm not going to do my personal reading when I'm getting paid to model for a class.
But today, the only attendee at the morning session was insistent that I read while she drew, so I did. I read about 70 pages during the two hours that she drew me.
The afternoon session was at the Texas Academy of Figurative Art. I did a three hour long standing pose. A lot of models don't like standing poses, but I don't mind them. At least one of my feet usually goes to sleep during seated poses, but I don't have that problem when standing. The students' drawings were, as usual at TAFA, outstanding. I'll be at TAFA every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the next few weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing more amazing drawings of myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)