Chances are, if you're my friend or have anything in common with me at all, you didn't pick up the July issue of Clin d'oeil – Quebec's premier French-language fashion magazine. And you definitely wouldn't have read the article on horoscopes, fortune-telling and dating – the one I'm in.
To readers of the magazine, I'm just another pretty face. Just another woman turning to the stars for reassurance that her next boyfriend won't be deceitful, controlling, unfaithful, crude, inconsiderate, selfish or homosexual, like the last one.They'll commiserate with this image of me, and join the ranks of what French-Canadians apparently call ésotérico-girly girls. You know, women with more faith in tarot cards, dice, clairvoyants and Rob Breszny's Free Will Astrology than their own instinct – the kind of women you'd never want to date.
Ahem.
While I didn't have anything to do with the actual content of the article, I'm its mascot. The illustrator commissioned for the feature, a close friend, asked if I'd be willing to pose as a reference model, so he could draw me. All I had to do was drink tea, play with props, and feign excitement and wonder at dating in the New Age. Feign excitement and wonder at dating? I've certainly done that before. This time I'll get something out of it, I thought, and volunteered for my own selfish reasons.
Firstly, although I was only slightly more qualified for the task than the standard wooden drawing figure, by virtue of having eyes and hands – I just wanted to be able to say, "Yeah, I've modelled." But mostly, I wanted to see myself through someone else's eyes.
My friend showed me some of the sketches before they were approved for print – over beer on his balcony, back when the world was sunny and warm – but it wasn't until yesterday, when I met him to say good-bye before I leave for London, did I remember to ask for a copy of the magazine.
And here I am, as he drew me. In the illustrations, I'm pretty. My nose seems smaller. My boobs seems bigger. And it seems I'd be willing to do anything for love.
In twenty days, I'm boarding a plane to Heathrow to be with a man I met via Facebook. So, if nothing else, at least that last part is true.
10 comments:
Gotta admit, I absolutely love that Buddy can and will draw me. It's hypnotic, this talent in others. Especially since I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler and an equatorial reference point.
Wyliekat - I wondered about that! So, he drew the likeness of you for your blog as well? The first time I saw that, I was jealous.
And about our talents? That's why we write!
Well done you look great and the article looks superb as well. And for the record you're not just coming to London to be with a man you met on facebook, you are coming to experience the glory of the UK as well. Don't want you putting that boy on a pedestal now.
Sam - Oh, I see what's going on here. OK, here it goes: I'm coming to the UK for you, too, Sam.
It's not that I am putting him on a pedestal, but rather that I'm putting him in my everyday life...and THAT is way more hardcore.
you are super cool :D the magazine, the facebook thing. very much awesome :D
You look so beautiful! He did a terrific job. I wish i could find someone to draw me with a vision that my nose was smaller and my boobs bigger. I had a silohette drawn about 12 years ago that portrayed my nose to jut across the page rivaling the likes of Pinocchio. I thought "Really? This can't be true...." Oh well. What to do, but get a nose job that i can't afford. Haven't done it yet, but I think everything balanced out with age. I hope anyway... ha! Now if only my boobs would jut across the page..... That may take some photoshop action. My belly is about the only thing taking up most of the page of a photo these days.
i am playing oustide - Maybe by Ottawa standards, but you guys don't even have running buses there.
I'm Kate - That was the third reason I did the MODELLING - to erase my memory of the caricature I had done in Winnipeg by some asshole street artist at the peak of my teenage angst.
I like that it pictures you with a bearded gent, because that gives all of us who are prone to such facial follicular follies hope.
pistols at dawn - Montreal's Mile End in the winter might suit you well. While they're still called Beard-os, it's with a fondness that gets them laid.
That's quality.
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