A collaboration

Karen Lynn Williams and I got to know each other when we were paired up by our editor, Dorothy Briley, to do a book together.  Karen and Steve, her husband, lived and worked in Malawi as Peace Corps volunteers, and Karen had written Galimoto. We have continued to work together on several projects and have visited each other in Haiti, New York and most recently in France where I persuaded Karen to join my life drawing class. 

Here is her account of the evening:

The Nude
Figure drawing class, France

It is the delicate features; Nose and mouth and browsWhich the artist sees.The model, nakedwears a studied malaiselarger than life, she is “full”a kind word.












Look at her fingers, The artist says,beautiful and the wisps of curlabout her face, beautifulbreasts full to her waistif one could seethe waist in her folds.The artist does not see the scar;the nude has had her stomachshrunken(for a short timeas these things seem to go)the folds of flesh cascade tothighs larger than two of mine,each.

















The artist saystry a wash, fill it with color, you see the designthere on her robe interesting, no?Negative space,the turn of her neck,the angle of her chin.Five minute poses  like a poem, no? the artist saysa new pose the figure turns awayarms thrown up, head tilted bold angle and arc of her backdraw the eyeto light at play with the dark twist of her neckto form lines thick and thin in turnflow across the pagethe back a soft milk white roundnessthe texture of the nudeher arms swing downand a slender finger tip dips just so
toward the dusk silk pillow on the floor.