47/49 Tanner Street, London, 20 May 2015

Now under new management: since my only previous visit to model at 47/49 Tanner Street, the life group has been passed into the care of artist Xanthe Mosley. Just as with my previous visit, however, last Wednesday’s booking was made only a few days before the evening itself.

As is my way when modelling for someone new, I sent Xanthe a text whilst en route and arrived plenty early to calm any possible concerns about myself as an unknown quantity. Our conversation about the session was thorough yet brief: we’d both done this many times before and quickly enjoyed a mutual understanding.

Everything about the pose space remained just as I remembered, with one positive difference: there were now twice as many artists in attendance. In fairness, this may simply have been the difference between bookings on a chilly November evening or in the light and warmth of mid May.

I started at 7pm with five lots of 5-minute poses, then followed with 10 and 10 minutes to our break. After a nice mug of tea I resumed for 24 minutes and finally 25 minutes up to 9pm. The artists sat as a circle around me so I changed direction throughout. Having a huge amount of space to work in, artists sometimes changed position too.

Feedback at the end was appreciative. It seemed my poses seated on the floor with angled or entwined limbs had been most popular, although keeping one arm raised whilst reclining had also gone down well. Reclining poses tend to offer least scope for variation, so elevated limbs can make a worthwhile difference to the challenge.

The evening’s art was very good all round. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a return visit in two or three months. It was a beautiful evening. I left Tanner Street to cross Tower Bridge in a serene mood, looking forward that future time.