His Model Student: A Student-Teacher Romance

5. Drawing instruction

[RECAP: Sera has to face hot art teacher Mr Marek at school as well as in her evening classes, and she fears he really dislikes her...]

The model this week was a portly middle aged man. If only he had been booked for the first class, Sera thought, there might never have been the mix up.

Mr Marek gave no indication of having had dealings with Sera elsewhere. St Christopher's was not mentioned. He was coolly professional once again although he seemed less angry this time.

He stood looking at her easel for some time. Sera could barely swallow. She knew she was making a dog's breakfast of the fat man. His thigh seemed to be twice the width of his head.

"You're new to this, aren't you?" His tone was wryly amused.

"It's my first life drawing class," she admitted.

"It might have been an idea to seek help before embarking on... this," Mr Marek said.

Sera wanted to sink through the floor.

"May I?" Without waiting for her to respond he reached for the pastel she was holding. It was his custom to guide students' hands rather than directly take the chalk or pencil himself.

But when his hand closed over Sera's she felt a jolt and the pastel jerked against the page, smudging the already messy and overworked line.

She glanced back at him, nervous. He was so close to her, the linen of his rolled up sleeve brushing her arm. His forearm was well-muscled, sprinkled with dark hair.

"Can you just show me? It might be easier if you just..." Sera tailed off.

Mr Marek raised his eyebrows but took the pastel. He was directly behind her and she was finding it hard to breathe. What on earth was wrong with her being around this man? He was going to think she was feeble minded if she couldn't keep a grip of herself.

"Like this." A few quick strokes and magically the portly model was appearing on the paper before them. "Each part of the limb is its own three-dimensional segment, jointed at the hip, knee and ankle. See? So now you can foreshorten the thigh while keeping the proportions of the femur."

He made it look so easy. Sera said so.

His lips twisted. "When you've been doing this for as long as I have, the basic structure comes without effort."

"Well, thank you anyway."

There was faint amusement in Mr Marek's eyes. "It's what I'm here for." He moved onto the next student and Sera felt the tension drain from her body as he left.

She was exhausted - the first week back at school had plunged them straight back into the syllabus, with a tonne of homework. By Thursday night Sera was more than ready for the weekend.

But there was exhilaration too. She already loved this class. Drawing a live subject always roused adrenalin in Sera, that feeling of trying to capture someone on paper in a limited time. She wasn't finding limbs as fascinating as faces but it was all great experience.

Once she had got the hang of it better she would try another medium. Barry sketched straight in oils, not even outlining in pencil first, and there was real mastery in his brushstrokes. Winifred, the elderly lady, had a very delicate touch with watercolours. Everyone else used charcoal or pastels, but Sera loved how the single sweep of a brush stroke could define the contours of a body.

Despite her efforts to concentrate, Sera found her eyes moving from the life model to the back and shoulders of Mr Marek. He was powerfully built and she imagined he would have perfect contours under his shirt. At least if his muscular arms were anything to go by.

Concentrate, she told herself sternly. She could hardly start fantasising about someone who was not only her teacher, but had also made it clear he despised her.

There was a five minute break where the model got to stretch out and visit the bathroom if needed. Students tended to use it as an opportunity to chat and comment on one another's work.

"I've love to be able to paint like you," Sera told Barry. "You seem to get the lines perfect the first time."

"You'll get there," Barry said.

"He's too modest," Jasper interrupted. "It's gift that you have, Barry my boy. I could spend a hundred years in this class and still make my dreadful botch ups." He looked at Sera's drawing. "Now that's not bad at all. All the more so if this is your first class, as I overheard you mention."

Sera had to be honest. "It's barely my work, after all the help I needed."

She saw Mr Marek's head turn towards her, overhearing. "It wasn't quite that bad," he told her. "The shading was competent."

Was this a compliment? Given how hostile he had been, it was very disarming to receive even a glimmer of praise.

Before Sera could wonder about it any more the model returned to take his place, in a different pose for the second hour, and the class continued. Sera tried to apply what Mr Marek had taught her to her second drawing. She found his advice made a real improvement.

Even as she tried to concentrate on her work she was keenly aware of the tall, dark haired figure moving from place to place in the room. He showed a genuine interest in everyone's work and treated even the more amateur artists with the same respect as the most experienced students.