Drawing Competition: Days 1 & 2

At this point I sort of know if the new pose is going to be a huge mistake or not.

This one's not so bad.

Days 1 & 2 down of the Classical Drawing Contest at the Fancy-Schmancy School of Old School Art. School.

Three more days to go. That's 24 hours. Yes, modeling for 8 hours a day. Even I'M ashamed at how naked I am.

But I'm not always. I bought a designer bathrobe from Bloomingdales. It was on sale. So instead of paying $40, I got it for $18. Not bad. With the beard it makes me look extra-biblical. And by extra-biblical I mean, like, the Book of Enoch.

20 minutes on the stand with a pole in my right hand, slight bend of the right knee, contrapposto, head turned to the left, looking downward, like some sort of weary shepherd who's lost his clothes in the recent hurricane.

Other than that, I'm spending a lot of time on my super-lame iPhone 3GS (see above picture). It's incredible how Apple managed to, so effortlessly, turn this thing I loved into something I HATE. That's advertising!

So there you go. None of the colorful personalities from the sculpture competition two years ago. I'm also not allowed to take pictures of the drawings on my breaks so I can't post any progress shots.

I CAN say though, that this is one serious group of artists. It's SO quiet in there. So intense. Makes me crazy. Seriously. I have zero interaction with people from dawn to dusk. I just stand there on the stand, both TOTALLY isolated AND the object of everyone's COMPLETE attention. I think all the modeling is starting to make me a little crazed. Seriously. I'm getting TOO much time to just stand around and think.

I should be DOING things. Like lifting heavy objects.

Oh yeah. I'm having a fun time messing with some of the old timers. We'll be on break and I'll be looking at a drawing with one of the other artists I've worked with before and I'll mournfully whisper, "I am SO fat..."

I actually got one of the guys to become concerned.

I'm so mean.

Why Context Is Important

I've posted this before but I thought I'd throw it back up here because it's just too funny. And a very good object lesson in why it's important to put things in their proper context!

My Take on the Cordoba House

Mischief in Manhattan

We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mischief+Manhattan/3370303/story.html#ixzz0w31h7Vts

My main reason for posting the link to the above article is because lots of friends on facebook have posted pro-Cordoba Institute articles and opinions. I think it's important to see the other side too--while some see this as a religious freedom issue, others see it as a political move.

I tend to agree with the writers of this article who are Muslims thems elves. I'm all for wanting to heal and build unity. 100%. A friend of mine wisely observed, you don't heal in someone else's cemetery. He mentioned to me the proposed convent that the Catholic church was going to build right next to Auschwitz, but when they saw the hurt the proposed project was causing people--people who needed to go there to grieve and heal--the church moved it a few miles away out of respect for those people.

Perception is reality. While opening a major Islamic center in that area on 9-11-11 is viewed by some as an attempt to heal and build bridges, it is also important to realize it is viewed by others to be an affront. It is too painful for them.

Instead of thumbing our noses at those people who are hurting, those who lost loved ones and family members in the attacks, and call them bigots, racists, and religiously intolerant--that they are monsters who are operating only out of hate and fear--I think we must show compassion. I didn't lose anybody on 9-11 but I can imagine what that would be like. I can watch the videos of people jumping out of those buildings, I can listen to the audio of people on their phones at the moment the buildings they're in begin to collapse.

I realize the attacks are not necessarily, in-and-of-themselves, a reflection of all of Islam. But I also have to recognize that many people, Muslims included, D O see it that way. Is that just their incorrect perception? Possibly. Is that just their problem? Maybe. I believe it's important to correct incorrect perceptions, but I wonder if there aren't better/gentler ways of going about it. Again, it goes back to compassion. If this is about healing the community, how can we all heal such that it benefits the most people IN the community?

So how near is too near? How soon is too soon? I don't know. I have to go with my gut on this one. And I do know that we typically see something like a ten-year anniversary of an event as a significant date. And the times we're living in, with tensions around the world, economic fears at home, people are stressed out! These are UNUSUAL, stressful times! I think we all can agree on that.

Just things to think about. That's all. No offense intended.