Chapter 5: Display Art

When Leslie and I heard our assignment on Tuesday, we just looked at each other and nodded. Dale told us that we were to collect six found objects that we could carry to class conveniently. We should create a composition of the objects that embodied the eight elements of composition—balance, movement, unity, rhythm, focus, pattern, proportion, and contrast. She added that not every composition included all eight elements, nor all in equal emphasis. But we should be ready to explain how we composed the objects and considered each of the elements. We’d have all day Wednesday to work on our compositions and were to bring them to show on Thursday.

“Can we use your props closet?” Leslie asked as we left class.

“Absolutely. Want to meet there at 8:30 tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah. Do we have to wear clothes?”

“I’ll make sure everyone knows the space is reserved and to stay out,” I laughed. Hmm. A day in the studio naked with Leslie could have some interesting ramifications. We’d met topless the previous week while we were processing film, and that had involved a lot of rubbing and petting and kissing. I needed to remember that we had an assignment and not give it short shrift.

As I was headed out to catch the train, I saw Min and stopped to talk to her for a few minutes.

“Did you and Leanne get the paint figured out on Saturday?” she asked.

“Well, mostly. We’re going to meet again this Saturday to refine the movement a little so we don’t just have you standing naked in front of us for two hours while we try to decide who’s painting what,” I laughed.

“Mmm. I would stand naked in front of you for two hours. In fact, I don’t think it would be a hardship at all. For me,” she teased.

“Oh, you will,” I promised. “After we finish painting, we still have to photograph you. I know we’re going to want pictures of every little detail.”

“I have some very interesting details,” Min said. “No one has ever complained about them being little, though.”

She did that little wiggle of her torso that girls do, where they shift their body inside their clothes and you can track their nipples as they glide beneath the fabric. It did attract the eye and I realized she was very much braless today.

“I don’t think I’ll complain, either,” I said. “But I will want to look closely at what I’m doing. We’ll try to make sure you are comfortable while we’re painting.”

“I hope Leanne lets you paint some of the interesting parts and doesn’t keep them all for herself. I think she’s just as interested in them as you are.”

“Leanne is attracted to the points of interest on both female and male bodies,” I said.

“That matches me. I hope I get to see some points of interest, myself.”

After that little repartee, I headed for my train thinking split thoughts about working naked with Leslie tomorrow and soon painting Min’s naked body. Leanne really found a winner with her Chinese model.

“We got a call from Miss Ludwig,” Ronda said. “Clyde Warren was ‘laid off’ from the draft board. The board cited a reduction in workforce due to streamlining the draft process with the lottery.”

“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” I said. “In fact, I’m glad it didn’t. We have to keep making racism unprofitable to get through to assholes like him. It’s the only thing he understands.”

“Where does that put us with the suit against the Board?” Beth asked. She’d not been at any of our rallies or protests, but she’d kept up with what was happening and her father had been a staunch supporter.

“I’ll check with Lowell, but I can’t see that this changes anything. Warren manipulated the call-up and the Board allowed it to happen. I think they’re both still culpable,” I said.

“You know we’re all still right behind you, honey,” Ronda said. “We are doing this because we believe in it, not just because we love you.”

“It’s as much for Patricia and Tony,” I said. “Tony should have had at least a year after high school before he was called. When he was called, they were supposed to be taking the oldest first. That’s different now. They say the lottery has shifted the emphasis to taking the youngest first. They’re so screwed up. Regardless, Tony is dead because of Clyde Warren. There’s no two ways about it.”

Wednesday morning, I carried two cups of coffee from a vending machine on the platform into the studio to meet Leslie. She was outside shivering even though she was wearing a heavy coat. It was only about twenty degrees out and the wind was whipping up Wabash under the tracks.

I unlocked and we went in. I locked the door behind me since the store didn’t open for another hour. We went up to the studio and kicked off our boots and coats as we sat on the couch cuddled together to get warm.

“Geez, it’s miserable out! Take me to Las Vegas with you this year,” Leslie said.

“We’re going the other direction this summer,” I said. “But summer in Canada is pretty nice.”

“Today, Canada just sounds cold.”

“Yeah. The heat was out on the train this morning. You’ve never seen so many strangers huddled together for warmth. Of course, by the time we got downtown, that was just normal crowding on the train,” I laughed. “At least the heat kicks on in here at eight.”

“I suppose we should start exploring the props closet,” Leslie said. “Do you have any ideas yet?”

“No. I guess this is sort of like designing a still life.”

“Not sort of. It’s exactly like designing a still life. That’s what we’re doing.”

“Are you saying I can’t use you as one of my found objects?”

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow as I grinned at her.

“It depends on what you find for your other five objects,” she said with a shrug.

We set about on our scavenger hunt.

I thought Leslie’s array of things was an interesting combination. We spent the morning trying out different combinations of things and each had pulled enough props for two or three compositions. I tried to keep a theme going with my props, but Leslie’s seemed to be all over the board. When we came back from a lunch break, the atmosphere in the studio changed.

Leslie started things off after she’d hung her coat and taken off her boots. Then she stripped off her shirt. As was usual with her, there was nothing under the shirt but Leslie. She smashed her lips against mine and started unbuttoning my shirt.

“We’ve been good and all proper this morning. Now I need some inspiration. Strip!”

What could I do but obey such an authoritative command? Why would I want to? I pulled off my shirt and since Leslie was pulling down her jeans and underpants, I did likewise. As soon as we were naked, she crushed herself to me again.

“Yeah. Now we can really help each other compose things,” she said.

She started arranging things on the table and I pulled down a light blue backdrop. I figured we needed to record the arrangement of our objects so we could put them in the same order on the table in our classroom. Dale showed us a picture frame and said that when we created the composition in class, everyone would view it through the frame and comment on what they saw.

Leslie put a sword, a flower, a tiara, my pipe, and a piece of sheet music on the table. It really looked random.

“What do you think?” she asked.

I had a bunch of empty picture frames in the props closet, so I grabbed one and set it in front of my camera to take a picture.

“It’s flat,” I said. “I’m not thinking of the assortment of objects, but they’re all just lying on the table. It needs more dimensionality.”

“Yeah,” she said, coming around to view the composition through the frame. “I see what you mean. How about a piece of red cloth and put some random objects under it to change the levels?” I agreed and we went in search of some things to put under a cloth on the table. Since the objects weren’t part of the composition, I thought we could get away with it.

I also thought I could get away with leaning over Leslie’s back while she was bent over the fabric box. That put my stiff cock right in her butt crack and I reached around to cup her breasts in my hands.

“I was going to save that kind of thing for when we were done,” she gasped. She moved her butt against my cock. “We could take a break now, if you want.”

“Just a little appetizer,” I said, pulling her upright and kissing her neck.

“I hope you have enough to satisfy the appetite you’re working up,” she said. I pushed my cock against her ass one more time and then we got back to work.

Her new arrangement worked well for such an oddball assortment of things.

“I can almost see it,” I said as I took another picture through the frame. “It needs movement. I think that’s what’s missing. How do you make it a little more dynamic? You almost have something I’d display in the gallery.”

“I agree. I hope this works.”

She picked up the sheet of music and impaled it on the sword. Then she put the sword back into position. She looked at the composition and changed the position of the tiara.

“Can you light your pipe?” she asked.

I stoked the pipe and lit it. Once I had a good stream of smoke coming from it, I handed it to her and she put it in the composition. Then she came around and looked through the frame. I nodded as I took another picture.

“What do you think? Should the music be just at the tip of the sword, as if it’s just been stuck, or should it be around halfway down the sword, so it looks like it’s really been run through?” She slid the music down the sword and I took another picture.

“They have completely different meanings,” I said. “I think you should show both ways. The tip of the sword is kind of genteel. Halfway down the sword gives everything a sense of violence.”

“Yeah. I like it. Now I need to draw out the positions of the things under the cloth so I can get the same levels and angles.”

“Okay, what do you have?” she asked as she continued stroking my cock. We hadn’t really taken a long break, but with my fingers in her pussy and her hand on my cock, we were dangerously close to a conclusion. She pulled away, leaving me waving in the air and leaking pre-come.

“Okay. Yeah. Let me collect my brains from where you had them focused. What I have,” I said. “I’m going to use the red cloth, too, but just as a cover on the table. Then I have a champagne glass, a bottle, a tube of lipstick, a necklace, and a pair of earrings.”

“That is one big necklace.”

“I don’t know where Cassie came up with all the costume jewelry. She must have gone to an estate sale or something. But I like the way it dangles down. It would hit you right between your breasts.”

“Will Dale count the pair of earrings as a single object or as two?”

“I’m counting it as a single entity.”

“Then what’s your sixth item?” she asked.

“You.”

If she objected, I had another idea, but I thought I’d read Leslie right in her willingness to do almost anything. At least once.

“Me?” she squeaked. “It’s supposed to be a still life, not a portrait.”

“That’s not what she said. She said six found objects. I just found you in my props closet and decided to use you. You kind of like to be used, don’t you. Leslie?”

“Oh! Well, I sort of use as much as I get used, so I’m okay with that.”

“The real question is, will you pose topless for me in class?” I said.

“Oh, shit! Topless? In front of those guys?”

“There are only six guys, including me. That leaves you, three female students, and Dale. It’s not really out of balance.”

“Jim ... um ... hmm. I might need to get a little high before class tomorrow,” she said. “But it could be interesting. And exciting. If I get too excited, you need to promise to come to my room afterward and fuck me.”

“I have to promise? As if I wouldn’t love to come to your room and fuck you?” I laughed.

“Yeah. And you’ll probably need to do it today, too.”

“Okay. Here’s how I see the scene.” It wasn’t exactly what Leslie was expecting, but it did turn her on enough that she simply bent over the table and I fucked her right there.

“God, that’s good!” she called out.

“So fucking good,” I agreed as I spewed my load into the condom that I’d had nearby ever since I saw where the afternoon was leading. As in since yesterday.

“I got so damned horny during the holidays, and I couldn’t do anything about it. My mother and father are both teachers and everyone tells them everything they even suspect about their kids. I never had a boyfriend in high school because they were all afraid of my parents.”

“I hope I never meet them. I’d be tempted to tell them what an incredibly hot fuck their daughter is.”

“Do it again!” she demanded.

We did.

Thursday morning, we carted our box of props into the classroom along with the photos of what we intended. They were really just reference photos so we could see how we set things up the previous day. Nearly everyone had a polaroid to refer to.

I stopped to talk to Dale before class got rolling and asked to be the last to present my composition.

“Is there a specific reason you think that’s appropriate?” she asked.

“It’s the nature of my props.”

“The nature?”

“If you like, I can show you my reference photo,” I said, starting to reach for my bag.

“No. Wait. I’m intrigued. A class needs a bit of mystery. I’ll announce it and then the pressure will be on you.”

“Oh. O-kay,” I said. Crap.

Everyone looked at me when Dale announced that I’d requested to go last of the day, so we could all look forward to something special. Well, she was right. The pressure was on. In an odd twist, Jim—the third photographer in our class—requested to go first. He set the tone for the presentations.

“I’m planning to go into commercial photography in the near future. A lot of commercial photography is product shots and one of the major clients for it is the food industry. Whether you are looking at the Wednesday grocery ads or the menu in your favorite restaurant, you’ll find lots of pictures of food. Taking those pictures and making them look appetizing is tricky. I believe good composition will help make my food shots gourmet.”

He set about preparing a plate of food from things he’d brought with him. He had a plate, a pair of sunny side up eggs, strips of bacon, a slice of buttered toast, a cup of coffee, and a fork. He moved the table closer to the viewing portal. The frame Dale showed us Tuesday was set on a stand about midway back in the room we were using. It was bordered by a set of theatre flats so we could stand back and just see what was visible in the frame. It was a pretty cool idea. The closer your composition was to the frame, the more like a close-up it would be.

Jim arranged his breakfast composition and then in a final flourish, broke the yolk of one of the eggs with the toast and had it dripping off the bread for his composition.

Everyone applauded his composition and Dale did a basic critique inviting everyone to add their comments. We all thought it was a good composition, but we weren’t sure if the broken egg yolk and dripping toast would effectively sell the breakfast. Jim agreed and said he’d done that as a bit of humor and felt that the dripping yolk added movement to a subject that was probably better without it.

It took around twenty minutes to half an hour for each presentation, with a few minutes to talk about it and clear the set. The guy who was a set designer in the theatre had a display of tools that were just hung on a peg board, but the hammer was hung so that it looked like it was falling off the board. It was pretty clever.

One of the painters brought apples. She asked everyone to please not breathe too heavily as she arranged the apples in a pyramid with three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. Five of the apples were yellow and one was red. Instead of doing the obvious and stacking the red apple on top, she put it on the second layer where it created a surprising look.

Leslie was the last to go before lunch. I helped her put the base in and then cover it with the red cloth. There were a few people who said that was more than six objects, but Dale said she felt the use of levels was part of the arrangement and not part of the objects. I stoked up my pipe and handed it to Leslie so she could position it. Finally, she slid the sheet music onto the sword.

“I wanted a sense of mystery in the composition,” she said. “I intentionally chose objects that I thought were completely unrelated to each other. I wanted the composition to hit the observer so she asked, ‘What was going on there?’ I think it came out the way I wanted it to.”

Dale and the class agreed and it sparked a conversation about the story in a composition and how composing the objects told a story or inspired a sense of wonder. The conversation continued into lunch. We all grabbed a quick sandwich and returned to class by noon.

Mine was the last presentation at about a quarter after one. By that time, Dale had reminded everyone that I’d requested the last presentation because of the unusual nature of my objects several times. I went to the table and adjusted the position so I thought the right amount would show through the frame. I spread the red cloth on it and then laid out my objects.

“I’ve always been intrigued by how women prepare themselves to go out. I have four girlfriends and there are many times when I’m simply waiting in one room while they ‘get ready’ in another. It takes us guys, like, five minutes to put on a shirt and a tie if it’s fancy. We’re ready.”

“But that’s just stuff laid on a table,” one of the girls said. “I see that every day, though maybe without the champagne.”

“This is just the beginning so you can see the objects. Most of them. I’m counting the earrings as a single object since they are a pair. If you prefer, I can make the composition with only one, but it is better with both.”

“That’s only five objects, then.”

“Which brings me to the nature of my sixth object,” I said. Leslie came around the blind and sat in the chair with her back to the viewers.

“Hey, it’s supposed to be a still life,” one of the guys said.

“Not necessarily,” I said. “The instructions were ‘six found objects in a composition.’ Leslie happens to be an object I found in the props closet in my studio.”

“Lucky,” I heard Jim breathe.

With her facing away from the class, I put the necklace on her as she unbuttoned her shirt. I caressed her chest a little as the blouse fell back and off her shoulders and arms.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.

I clipped the earrings to her nipples and she gasped. I heard a couple of squeals from the class as they realized what I’d done. I spun the chair around so Leslie was facing the class. She reached for the champagne glass and pressed it to her heavily made-up lips. Then she set the glass down and held the lipstick in her hand. I checked the composition and stepped back away as my classmates stared through the frame.

“Wow!”

I’d positioned the frame and table in such a way that her head above her chin was out of the picture. The necklace fell between her breasts and the earrings dangled from her nipples. She held the lipstick exactly as we’d practiced the day before.

Dale began applauding. She was soon joined by the rest of the class.

“Very creative. And, with the framing that Nate chose, I agree that this is not a portrait. It is a still life. Now, besides Leslie’s painfully stiff nipples, what else do you see about this composition?”

There was a pretty lively discussion during which one of the guys—it might have been Jim again—said, “I wish I’d been in his studio.”

Dale nodded and said, “So do I.”