Le Art

I've mentioned before that I model for some artists in Black Mountain (formerly of Swannanoa, they have a new residence). Each artist has a different style, and they all tend to draw a certain feature or two in their own signature way. For one woman, my nose always arrives on paper looking more upturned than it is. Some of the artist's figures look more wispy, intelligent and alert, or stiffer than I would appear in a photo. I like to think of them each as a parallel universe Me, walking around with stiff shoulders and neck, or reading a book and sipping tea under an old quilt in my softly rendered world.



I've wanted to buy a portrait from this artist, Steve, for a while now, but while his drawings of me are always beautiful, they are sometimes so beautiful that they don't resemble me so much!



So dewy-eyed and precious. He says he likes drawing my profile because of my nose and high forehead, and I think you can see that.



This week, however, I knew something special was going on about halfway through the session. It was much more 'me' than usual! I wish I had taken a process picture, because for a while it was really very Katy, and it ended up a little less so. But I liked it, and I've wanted a drawing from this group for a while, so I made up my mind to make him an offer, and with only a little arm-twisting, he accepted.



Now, clearly, if I actually looked like that, guys would be following me down the street, assuming I could walk upright without tipping over forward ;) But what can I say? It's pretty, it resembles me, it reminds me of modeling for this group, and I love a good charcoal drawing. Plus I have this plan to delete or burn all photos of me within five years on either side of this drawing. Thirty years from now I'll tell people I really looked like this particular parallel universe me.