The Pigeon Hole, London, 1 October 2015

Where there’s life there’s hope…

After a break for the summer, life drawing had returned to The Pigeon Hole café in Camberwell, but the full complement of artists had not. An art group with insufficient artists cannot be an art group for long. The week before my booking, one of the most outstanding models in London had been drawn by just two very lucky attendees.

I arrived at a quarter to seven and was met by friend, model, artist, photographer and traveller extraordinaire, Tatiana Moressoni. Close behind me was our first artist. As I wandered through to the back room, a couple more arrived; this was looking positive. Two more joined us, then another, and then another. When the last came in midway through my first pose, we had eight in total. Excellent!

The Pigeon Hole is possibly the smallest, most intimate venue in which I’ve modelled. Artists can be so close-up that they focus on body parts rather than the body whole. With eight artists, we had practically a full house. Tatiana could scarcely believe her sudden change in fortune. Attendances have been down in life drawing groups across London, so it was marvellous to behold an upturn here.

My work was all atop the café bar. Poses of 2 minutes, 2, 5, 5, 10, 15 and 15 minutes occupied the first half of the evening. After breaking to partake of a most agreeable red wine, poses in the second session were 10, 15 and 15-minutes. I love the challenge of trying to present as much variety as possible in such a confined space.

All done, everyone seemed pleased. It had been a pleasure to see Tatiana for the first time since March. Her breadth of experience means she understands her models and artists and the needs of each. I should be modelling for her flagship Camberwell Life Drawing group later this month at The Cambria – local artists: come along, support, sustain, create and above all enjoy.