You may have seen the TV programme about how to pay off your mortgage in two years. My husband Alan and I watched it and were inspired to see if we could do it. We had been married for ten years and had bought a small house, partly using some money I had inherited, and although we had kept our mortgage down a reasonable level by today's standards, we still owed over £50,000. If we could pay that off, or a large chunk of it, we would have a much better standard of living.
Alan had a good job and in his spare time played the keyboard in a band around pubs and clubs, so was already earning some extra cash on Fridays and Saturdays; he played other instruments too and was qualified to teach them, so he decided he would go for that. It had the advantage that it would be 'cash in hand'. We decided to go all out for it, reasoning that we could cope with the work for a couple of years. Alan teaching for two or three hours every night, with the income from the band would put maybe £8,000 or £10,000 into the pot each year.
The problem was, what could I do to contribute? We looked at my options. I worked in a supermarket, having started on the tills and had recently become the manager of one of the departments, but I really had no marketable talent. I had done a bit of drama at one time, but not to a standard where I could teach it, and there was no money in amateur theatre.
"You'll just have to go on the game," Alan said jokingly and we continued to look for something for me to do. I didn't want to get another shop job or something similar.
Time went by and Alan was working really hard, I hardly saw him, then he came home one night from a gig and said that he had seen an advert on the pub noticeboard from an art teacher that was looking for a woman to do life modelling and was offering £12 per hour.
"I don't know... I mean, posing nude," I said, then I thought of all the work he was doing himself and felt guilty. "You wouldn't mind me doing it?"
"No, not if you didn't. I wrote down the number, why don't you give him a ring?"
Three days later, after an interview, he rang to offer me the job.
"The classes are very popular, so you will be naked in front of a lot of different people. I usually have a different theme for each term - you said you wanted to do it for two years?"
"Yes."
"That's just what I'm looking for, so that we have some continuity. The practical aspect of sitting naked for two or three hours means that we'll adjust the classes around you, so instead of doing Monday to Friday we'll do seven days a week for three weeks and then have a break when you have your period -- do you have a regular monthly cycle?"
"Yes, 29 days, like clockwork."
"Very well, if you still want the job you'll need to tell me the dates when you can't come, each month."
I had already encountered his matter-of-fact attitude at the interview, so this talk about my private functions came as no surprise. I told him and we agreed the starting date, for the next month.
The first night I was very nervous, but they all put me at ease, so after the first few weeks I settled down and started getting used to it. I wasn't alone in modelling; there was also Art, who was a student at the University and doing it to help pay his fees. Art wasn't his real first name but everybody called him that, because of his initials -- A.R.T.
Peter's (the teacher) theme for the term was 'coy', so Art and I had to pose in a shy way, which wasn't a problem because neither of us had done that kind of thing before. Most of the pictures of me showed me with my legs crossed, or under me, and often with my arms folded across by breasts. Some of the artists were very talented and the pictures were excellent, I particularly liked the ones where they drew both of us in the same picture, as we sat or stood on opposite sides of a low platform in the classroom.
It was certainly a strange feeling being naked in front of another naked person I hardly knew, and I think he felt the same, but it didn't stop him having a good look at my body when he thought I wasn't looking. It didn't stop me from looking at his, either, and I did notice a little bit of stiffening between his legs from time to time although he was studiously avoiding it. I wondered if he noticed the small signs of arousal that were happening to me.
During the second term the theme was 'tease' so we had to pose more provocatively, but since we were now quite relaxed about it, this wasn't a problem. Occasionally the way that Art posed teased me, so I would respond with a sensual look or movement of my body in his direction. The term drew to a close and there were some very good pictures made, along with a fair crop of inferior attempts. However they were all doing better.
After Easter Peter said that the theme for the next session would be 'carnal' so we would both need to pose in a much more uninhibited way.
"Susan, I'll need you to get used to all parts of your body being scrutinised and Art, an occasional erection wouldn't be out of place either, when you look at Susan. I'm surprised you haven't had one before?"
" I've, er, been taking precautions."
"Of course. A lot of male life models need to do that beforehand. Well, stop doing it; I've told the students to expect it, and if it offends them they can leave; none of them said they were leaving."
From talking to some of the artists during breaks I had learnt that to get a place in one of his classes was a real privilege, he was renowned for his work and until his retirement the year before had been Principal of the Art college.
The first week of sessions were fairly standard, although lying on a couch with my legs spread on either side I somehow felt more naked, more exposed.
Peter said that our inhibitions were making our poses tense, so the next week we had to get them out of the way. On the Monday he told the class to gather around us, then had me lay on my back with my legs open, whilst he pointed out the slight colour variation in my hair, and the shape and position of all my most intimate parts.
"Do you see the way the lips fold and that slight glistening of moisture? I'll be expecting to see some studies of that. Now turn over and kneel up on the couch for us, Susan. Look how her hips curve, how the shadow falls into her backside and the way you can just see a hint of her anus, then lower down the dark crack opening into her body. From the side, her breast hanging down, with the highlights here."
He touched my breasts with three fingers, pointing out how the light reflected from them, and went on to describe techniques for drawing this. I was bright red with embarrassment.
"Now onto your back again Susan and hug your knees to your chest. A group of you can sit down here, and draw her from this angle and others from the side. Susan, I want you to imagine yourself lying like this for a lover, I want to see some lust in your expression. Do you think you can do that? I know it's difficult with us all here."
My mouth was dry and my heart was pounding, but I managed to croak "Yes."
"Now that Art has stopped wanking so much in the afternoons," - there was a murmur of amusement from the class and a gurgle from Art - "his penis is longer and thicker, even when it is soft. I want you to observe how it changes size and shape as it gets hard, and do some studies of it at the different stages. Now you turn over and kneel, Art. Notice how his scrotum hangs down, but as he becomes more aroused will become tighter. See if you can catch the way the light makes his black skin almost glow, it's a difficult technique to master but we'll go through how to do that with a variety of media.
Now stand up again and face towards Susan. Imagine that she's lying like that for you."
I saw Art's cock twitch when Peter said it, and start to harden. He noticed me looking, and tried to appear as if he was just obeying instructions, but I knew from the way he got harder and harder that he had no trouble imagining what he would do to me.
"I want a group right behind him, drawing him in the foreground and partially obscuring Susan. Make it appear as if he is striding towards her, about to ravish her. The others can cover the same but from the side."
That second term was a lot of fun. Towards the end of it, there were pictures of me with my legs wide open, one knee raised up, Art gazing at my crotch, his head propped on his arm, as he posed in the same position next to me but the opposite way around. Images of me kneeling with my mouth open, facing towards an advancing Art, his magnificent erection preceding him; all kinds of other poses. Some of my favourites were the charcoal sketches, from different angles, of Art lying on his back on the floor, with me standing over him, one foot either side of his waist, looking into each other's eyes.
The last week, before the university Summer break, we started by sitting on two chairs, facing each other. Peter gave us and the class our instructions.
"Sit back, leaning against the chair, Art, your knees together, feet about 15cm apart. Susan, put one foot by each chair leg. No, a bit wider. Perfect. Now class, imagine that Susan is sitting on Art's knees, facing him, straddling him. She presses her vulva against the base of his erect penis and leans back, savouring the contact. He reaches up and caresses her breasts. Hold that image in your minds. I have divided you into groups: this one, behind Susan will draw what she sees and the group over there will draw it from Art's perspective. Over here we'll imagine we're on the ceiling looking down on them, and the last group can draw them in profile."
There was a moving of easels, chairs scraping across the floor, the sound of new paper being fixed and drawing materials being located. I looked at Art and, on impulse, moved my hands between my legs, running a finger through my moistening lips. The effect on him was instantaneous.
"Would it help if I did it?"
