Eastbourne House, London, 1 July 2013

After a period of great anticipation, I had the pleasure of modelling for one of Adrian Dutton’s groups in Bethnal Green, London for the first time at the beginning of this month. Adrian’s Monday group is sufficiently large and well-established to be able to book models two at a time, creating many new possibilities.

I was introduced to my co-model, Maurice, just fifteen minutes before we were due to begin. Together we were briefed by Anya, who organises all the bookings: the group includes many experienced artists who would appreciate models that made an effort to be interesting. Interaction, angles and foreshortening were to be our watchwords.

Maurice and I responded with equal enthusiasm. We were up for it, but with no time to prepare we would be strangers improvising naked before an expectant audience of fifty or so sets of critical eyes. It doesn’t get much better.

We would start with a ten-minute pose to hold while late-comers were still taking their seats. We would then run briskly through five one-minute poses followed by three, five and ten minute poses, with a longer one taking us to the break. A magnificent spread of hot snacks and drinks was laid out for all to plunder during a half-hour interval, after which a single long pose took us to the end.

Working with Maurice was superb. I considered him the senior partner, being older and with more years’ life modelling experience behind him, but we gelled immediately. More by chance than design, our contrasting body-types offered the artists variety before we’d even got into pose. Physical contact was maintained throughout.

We took turns to adopt the lead pose, with the other then finding a complementary position, trying to ensure an interesting perspective from all sides of the room. Some of the resulting works are below:

The bonus for our exertions was very warm applause at the end of the session, and generous praise from Adrian, Anya and many of the artists. It was a lovely group to work for, and one I hoped very much to work for again.