Passover readings

As someone who describes themselves as Jewishish, I would like to wish you all a Happy Passover. I attended a seder last night, and carried home a box of matzo to eat this week. Of course, that will not be my sole sustenance.

Sitting around with a warm beverage, Radiohead playing in the background, nothing but panties on and a book in my hand sounds like an ideal evening. With all this traveling, rarely do I have the opportunity to lounge around in this manner. I think it about time to set aside the computer regardless of how well it warms my lap and crack open my book again.

My return to Houston today started my countdown. Five more days in Texas!



Photos by my dear friends and home in Dallas p + a studios.

You can't go back

You can't go back
Not to the way things were
Memories may be warm
But something amiss
So we forge on
and embrace the new
the here
the now

Once again I have returned to Dallas for a few days to say goodbye before my journey, even if I have already left. My storage center is half empty, my car overflowing. I have more clothes than a nude model should ever need in there. Finally my master's diploma will head my way, and when I go to the east coast and back again, the piece of paper proving that I completed something big and real will be waiting for me in my new Texas "home."

Photo by Adam Moon. Unfortunately my last trip to Pensacola was much to cold to do anything besides play poker and drink coffee. I'll have to wait until summer to create more beautiful images with him.

Butt kickin'

The theme of today is butt kicking.

I started the day by heading to a full hour and a half of Bikram yoga. I thought I was going to melt into a puddle after forty-five minutes, and realized I had a long way to go. So how did I reward myself for completing the session? By signing up for an unlimited pass to the yoga studio to commit myself to numerous more sessions before I drag my model butt halfway across the United States.

What is Bikram yoga, some of you may ponder? On the occasion a thought like that crosses my mind, I pull out trusty Mr. Wikipedia. Bikram yoga is a series of 26 yoga postures done in a room hot enough to make even people who claim they do not sweat, lose 17.89 percent of their weight in sweat - the room temperature being the temperature of a Houston summer day, or 105 degrees.

My butt kicking continued when I started compiling records for my taxes. This I cannot even begin to discuss without wanting to waive my hands in the air and scream. And since I am writing this blog as a break from my frustrations, I shall refrain from mentioning the missing receipts, the excruciatingly slow internet, and the mileage log that was virtually neglected.

Enough of this foolery.
Back to my butt kicking, or I could just eat dinner.

Painting by artist Howie Doyle of Houston, Texas.

Tied up

Art models don’t smile.
Art models don’t do bondage.
Art models most certainly don’t work with riggers.

Which one of those sentences is false?
All.

Generally I prefer to be mobile when it comes to art modeling, but have found that once I have a good working relationship with a photographer, exploring bondage as an art is enjoyable. And creates some pretty pictures. The trick is to keep the emphasis on the art, the good lighting, the right angles, and the right concepts. I am sure some of my friends cringe when I tell them about being tied into a closet by Michael Siu, or one of my earlier experiments that ended in me toppled to the ground, tied to a chair, nude, and merely inches from a shoe rack.

Since I have been staying in Houston, I have had the opportunity to work with friend and photographer Krist several times. Our first shoot featured portraiture with stuffed chickens, random clothing, and an some sort of renaissance alien space ship installation. Our next shoot explored religious images. So of course our following shoot was a shoot with a rigger. As someone who is all having different experiences, I was psyched but a little anxious about our next shoot. But the nerves dissipated by my arrival at his doorstep. I walked in to a giant swing set in the middle of the living room studio space. This is what I would be harnessed to from my chest and hips. I spent the afternoon suspended in space, dancing and twisting in a sea of hemp ropes. It was exhausting and exhilarating. I was sideways, upside-down, this way, that way. I had a leg tied to my arm, and a leg outstretched and tied above me at one point. I left the shoot with a grin on my face and my head floating in the clouds.

So thank you Krist and Gary. And sign me up again!

Photos by Doctor Z, the rigger.

East Coast Travel Plans

Travel plans!!!

April dates are set. May dates have some leeway. I will be traveling by car, so driving a little ways to you is very much possible!

Alabama: April 6 - 7
Nashville, TN: April 8 - 9
Georgia: April 10 - 12
North Carolina (South Carolina) April 13 - 20
Virginia/DC/Maryland: April 21 - 26
Philadelphia/Allentown, PN: April 27 - March 2
NYC, NY: May 3 - 16
Boston: May 17 - 23
Rochester/Buffalo/Upstate NY: May 24 - 25
Ohio/Indiana: May 26 - June 2
Chicago/Milwaukee: June 3 - 9

We all have to sleep somewhere

I have recently had it pointed out that my sleeping situation is inaccurately portrayed by my blog. Let me correct this misunderstanding. Though I do in fact occasionally sleep in my car, that is in no way my norm. Something about waking up with no distractions around me usually means I am on the road with a little extra time for myself – time that I can spend writing in my blog and journal. When I sleep on couches, I tend to socialize with my couch host and fill my spare time with discussion or small talk, rather than sitting aloof with the warm glow of my computer monitor on my down-turned face. On the occasion I sleep in hotels, I apparently wake up dreaming of department store corruption, and conspiracies to turn people into nude zombies. Or perhaps that was just last night. My most recent car sleeping experience taught me that while I fulfill some fantasy of recklessness and adventure by parking my car and pulling a sleeping bag over my body, the experience is not enjoyable when the weather is horrid out. Remind me next time it is cold out that I had decided those nights were unacceptable car sleeping nights.

*****

I am amazed at how easily I am able to push aside the constant daily practice of booking shoots, places to sleep, and creating travel plans when absorbed in a life with a steadily predicable roof over my head, a kitchen to cook in, and constant company of the man I love. On the flip side, I can easily jump back into booking and working mode when on the road by myself. It is almost as though I am completely divided. Soon enough I will return to my continual model mode, driving to and up the entire east coast. I plan to work in practically every Eastern state between April and June.

My alone time this morning is about an hour and a half before my shoot in an abandoned building in a small city neighboring Biloxi, Mississippi. This town is rather small and desolate, but I found a small restaurant with breakfast and coffee for six dollars and a dose town atmosphere. The gypsy in me finds pleasure in traveling around unknown towns and stumbling upon places to sit, write or read, eat, and most importantly, drink coffee.

Photo by Kallitsis. This couchsuring woman likes a good, funky, frumpy couch.