I've been wanting to write this blog - or record this incident for a while now but I rarely post things that involve real activities with real people. That's probably why it's taken me so long.
As some of you know, I love to paint and draw (if you didn't know, you can look at my art stuff here). I love everything involved with the preparation of a painting: choosing the paper, the thought process about composition/ subject/ medium - I love it all. It can be so ritualistic but also so freeing. There's definitely a zone you exist in while you are creating something and it's incredibly exciting and surreal. You all know the feeling I'm talking about.
But what about the muse?
I posed the question to my friends recently - what would you rather be? The artist or the muse?
The answer was a unanimous The Artist!
See, this is where I differ. I would choose to be the muse. Every time. I think it is because I know what goes in to the painting that I would love to be studied, looked at, committed to canvass - in that totally analytical way which almost actually removes the model from the painting. Does that make sense at all? That as the artist, you delve deep into the abstract of light and shade - contrast of tones, that while you are in it, there is nothing but those things. I adore that. I love that a series of dots, splashes, lines, independently mean nothing, but put them together and wham - there's a portrait. To inspire a painting - how wonderful! But I have never been a muse for an artist ever.
I have written quite a few stories exploring the artist/ muse relationship - the intensity of it or equally, the clinical removal of emotion. The analytical eye capturing only light and shade - or the passion driven slashes of paint, trying desperately to convey a feeling or message to the muse. You are adored! I worship you! You're fucking everything to me and I want to immortalise you! Think, Basil Hallward and Dorian Gray for example - what a relationship.
So to the story of my quest to become a muse.
I love art with an erotic edge so when Jack Vettriano held his retrospective at Kelvingrove gallery earlier this year, I had to go. There is one painting in particular that frankly, gets me hawt. It's this one.
Oh man.
So I put on my best silk blouse, pearls, French seamers and sky high heels and made it my mission to meet the man and become a muse. I knew from looking at his other work that I have the colouring and style that his models possess however, I'm quite tall, over 1.83m (6') in those heels - I know he prefers the petite lady. Not to be deterred, I went along to his lecture one cold frosty night and stood in line to have him sign my newly acquired book - It's a Man's World.
When I passed him the book to sign, open at the very painting I love, he stated, eyes down:
"This painting is pure filth, you know."
My heart fluttered.
"Yes, I do know. But I peddle in filth myself and that's why I love it."
"Oh?" he glanced up.
"Why yes, I write erotica."
Then he looked me up and down with those artist's eyes, assessing, analysing, looking for that thing...
"Hmm, do you have a card?"
"Why of course." How handy, it was clutched in my kid gloves and I passed it over. He twisted up his hip and popped it in his jeans pocket. I demurely walked off, trying not to trip over.
So then I came home and waited.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I must not have that 'thing'.
So I'm back to being on the other side of the canvass - staring at muses feeling the thrill of the brushes and ink - but I still haven't felt the thrill of the muse.
Oh to be someone's muse!
Here's a snippet of my story from South Bank Seduction inspired by the strange artist/ muse relationship. (It's a teensy bit saucy of course, so if you are of a delicate disposition, don't read further.)
The Conference
I delicately put my hand to my
curls and pat, tipping my head to the side to avoid any lifting of
the arm. Seems ok. Though I can smell my own scent wafting from me.
It is pure female arousal. I catch a few male cagouled tourists
taking a second glance at me as they pass by. Powerful stuff,
pheromones.
Perhaps I really ought to
visit the ladies. I stare around for a sign to show me the way and
there he is. Darting quickly behind a pillar. He's been watching me
all along. The sneak!
I smile. Does he know I know?
I pretend I don't and stoop to fix my stockings. Fingers slipping up
and under the hemline of my pencil skirt. That will drive him wild. I
know it. If only I could give them a good yank and sort out these
ankle wrinkles.
Suddenly a hand is at my lower
back. Hot and heavy. Power and energy slump from my body as I
surrender to him in that one motion.
He's here. I'm here.
I'm still bent at the waist
and he lifts me by the shoulder, the hand at my back casually
smoothes over my buttocks and presses firmly at the dip beneath. I
melt. I liquefy. The ache in my groin which has plagued me since I
boarded the train in Scotland is now a torrent of heat and desire.
We are the eye of the storm.
The stillness in this vast crowded space.
"Come," he says and
grabs my hand, almost dragging me behind him as I shimmy in my too
high heels and too tight skirt and too nylon stockings. It is highly
erotic. I can almost visualise us in black and white with perilous
piano music playing along. A damsel being taken by a gentleman in a
shabby three-piece suit and three-day beard. God, I am wet. My
panties are soaked. I feel wanton and excited. Will we go to his
usual studio or does he have something else lined up?
In the taxi he blindfolds me
and touches my lips with something cold and sticky. The feathery
slippery touch is tickly and strange. Almost like he is painting them
with a sable tipped brush. I keep still and silent.
When he's guided me up some
stairs and the blindfold is removed, we are in familiar territory. I
am glad. I love his paintings. Louche figures in various stages of
undress and eroticism stare at us from all angles. They remind me of
the 1920s, somehow carefree and decadent with a sizzling dangerous
undertone.
"Stand here," he
commands sweeping his hand in the direction of a wooden pillar. He
has removed his jacket but the waistcoat remains and he has rolled up
his shirt sleeves. I do as he bids and face the easel which is set up
just in front of it. "Take off your top half."
His voice is gruff and sticky
in that way that tells of a life lived on good whiskey and
cigarettes. Or is he a brandy drinker? The faint lingering scent of
debauchery on his breath and skin, even after bathing, I imagine,
gives me a thrill. He gives me a thrill. The fuck you attitude of a
man who will not be told what he can and cannot do. I like it. My
pussy quivers as he licks his lips and sighs in a contemplative way
while he studies me removing my blouse. Happy to be rid of the damp
item, I reach up behind my back to unhook my bra but he holds out his
palm.
"No. Leave it." He
stares at me, my form, with an analytical eye. There is no emotion in
a human to human sense but he is so concentrated in an artist to
subject sense that I am overwhelmed with need. But what do I need?
What is it that brings me to him? He has never touched me yet. Not
once. And I have never even caught a glimpse of even a sketch. When
we are done, he simply sends me on my way, burning...
What do you think - artist? or Muse?
Thanks for getting this far - that was quite a long post for me :D
x x x
Here's that sexy painting again... (borrowed from Pinterest)
I do love that painting too. You might never get a call, but who's to say he hasn't visited your sites?
ReplyDeleteAww thanks Jo! Maybe he got a little scared by the story! Imagine - it gets pretty hawt later on :D
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I'm with Jo, I bet he's reading your work and that's inspiring him. You're his muse from a different perspective, he's in your head - but you never know. A muse kept in the dark. Let's see if he starts on dystopian pairings :-)
ReplyDeleteAwwww thanks Lilyloo - do you really think so? :D *clutches petticoats and twirls around the room* x x x
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