Portrait #5: Muriel

"Have you ever drawn any of your friends naked?" Muriel asked.
"People? Yes, many. My friends? Not recently," I replied.
"Well..." she said and we both nodded. "I could wear my bra and panties...?"

So then we listened to "Disturbia" by Rihanna for the fiftieth time in our apartment and talked about how it was probably about the collapse of Capitalism (check out the lyrics) while I began to draw her sitting on my bed. I had just done laundry and all my "hang to dry" clothes were doing just that. I thought this floral dress would be a nice 2nd character in the story because it would bring up a bunch of stuff about femme identity in Muriel's portrait and bring up questions about how she feels being naked and scrutinized by her friend. She has been my most patient sitter so far which I think contributes to the good proportions in this portrait even if the composition is kind of strange. She looks very alert and focused which is also how I feel she is about our friendship.

Here is a picture of the dress, after I had it in my closet overnight. Miraculously its folds were in the same position, I guess since it had dried that way. Maybe Muriel's folds are the same today because she dried that way also.