The latest model

Who'd want to be an artists model? Certainly, there aren't that many people who fancy the job. Not many people are happy taking their clothes off for other people. Especially people who are going to look intently at them. Examine them in minute detail. And then after they've done that they're going to put all the details down on paper infront of them, showing all the parts of your body they you may not be a hundred percent comfortable with. Warts and all ....... so to speak! So, who would want to do THAT for goodness sake???? Well.......... it appears that some people do, and they actually enjoy doing it. And yes, I know that people pose as life drawing models for various reasons - some of them financial - because a life model can earn a reasonable rate of pay for sitting there in the buff, doing nothing in particular but keeping still (and BOY is THAT hard work!!!). But other people do it for far more involved reasons than basic cash. They do it for the love of it - they adore getting their clothes off for someone else and definitely get a frisson of excitement every time they stand before a room full of clothed strangers, knowing that all the eyes in that room are focused on THEM. They are the Star of the Show!!!

But deeper than that, there's another group of people who enjoy the creative process, and want to be part of it, but just don't know how to. They're not artistic, they're not particularly creative, they can't draw to save their lives, but they really really want to do something arty. So, they decide to aide the artist in another way - they become life models. They are the focus of the artistic process - they are the basis of the end product - their body is frozen in time, portrayed upon a canvas, immortalised in paint to live on in perpetuity for the world to see. And whilst you could say that they are being altruistic in some ways, they are also fully aware of their selfish needs in this. Its fulfilling their desire for being the creative focus of someone else.

And then there's the next group - the happy amateurs, who are doing it for a bit of a laugh, a lark, a bit of fun. They just pick it up and do it on the spur of the moment, something else to add to their "done that, bought the tee shirt" scenario, something they can laugh about down the pub with their mates, and tell their grandchildren about when they're old and grey.

And I suppose taking it to a different direction all together, there are those people who get their sexual kicks from the fantasy of being naked with a load of other people, and imagine the hot and frenzied passionate no-holds barred gang-bang orgy that might.......just......... happen .........if certain things go their way, and who probably go home bitterly frustrated and incredibly disappointed when they realise that actually the artist only really did just want to draw them for a couple of hours, and have a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit and talk about their herbaceous border.

But, to go to to another side altogether, there's the sublime relationship between artist and their muse - not just a model, but a person who truely inspires the artist. They have a deep and lasting love affair, not always of a sexual nature, but certainly one of a deep and significant type, where the artist does their best work because of the relationship and feeds from the artistic flow that comes from it. That's the pinnacle of the artist/model relationship. One that we all aspire to - and is so hard to attain. Its a thing of beauty when it happens. Something to be valued because its just so rare and special.