Garrett Centre, London, 4 November 2015

I’d turned down a last minute request to model for another group two days before as I was already booked for an evening at the Telegraph Hill Centre. For this particular Wednesday, 4 November, I’d had no fewer than three booking offers – a rare enough occurrence and slightly galling as I had nothing in the diary for Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Such is the way the cookie crumbles.

First come, first served… was Adrian Dutton. We had agreed this date as long ago as 17 May. It would be my third and final appearance of 2015 at the Garrett Centre in Bethnal Green, in addition to modelling several times at his other venues. It’s always my pleasure to come back for these groups. As ever here, I started with a 10-minute standing pose that allowed time for latecomers to settle down.

This was followed by quick poses of 2-minutes, 1, 3 and 5-minutes. One never knows in advance what times Adrian will call for, so all poses are decided on the spur of the moment. Another 10-minutes followed, then 20-minutes, which should have ended the first half but a 5-minute pose was appended so Adrian had time to finish preparing hot food for our break.

During the interval, whilst chilling on the floor at the centre of my pose space, I had a nice chat with a chap named Raymond, who’d helped with the set-up. He had done a little life modelling himself here, and was keen to try more. I could tell he approached his work with the same purity of enthusiasm that I enjoy myself, so I shared whatever meagre practical advice I could.

After gulping down a mug of tea, I received hand signals from Adrian that indicated he would like me to begin the second half with another 10-minute pose. As I slid from my gown and got into position, a hush permeated the mingling artists and they hastened back to their drawing materials. I concluded the evening with poses of 15-minutes and 25-minutes. Time flew by.

The kind applause of artists was gratefully received at the end of the last pose. While I dressed, they set down upon the floor their favourite artworks from the session; while I took a few photos it seemed all hands made shift to help Adrian clear the room. It had been another good turn-out, another pleasant evening in Bethnal Green. Here’s hoping 2016 will bring more return visits.