The Star by Hackney Downs, 2 February 2016

It started with a 5-minute pose seated on a high stool, and continued with a 4-minute pose on a lower one. Next came an ambitious 3-minutes of kneeling on the floor with my hands behind my head, and then 2-minutes sat upon a different high stool. Three 1-minute and three 30-second poses followed in a wide variety of strenuous reaching and thrusting stances.

After a couple more 5-minute poses, the first half ended with me curled down on the floor for 10-minutes. The time seemed to race by, as it so often does in the colourful convivial little space upstairs at The Star by Hackney Downs. This evening I was in the company of six artists plus group organisers Catherine Hall and Carla Nizzola also drawing.

This day – 2 February – was ‘Groundhog Day‘, so the suggestion arose to have the three favourite poses from the first half repeated in the second half but held for longer. It was a neat and novel notion except I usually select poses that take me to the limit of what I can endure in the time available for each one. Hence, lengthening that time could be a challenge, but I agreed to go along with it anyway.

I made minute modifications so that my 1-minute lunge with both arms thrust forward could now somehow last for 5-minutes. Next, the 3-minute pose seated on my heels, kneeling with hands clasped behind my head, was drawn out to 10-minutes. My final 10-minute reprise of sitting on the first high stool was simple by comparison. Overall I found it a tough but fascinating test of my commitment and adaptability!

Artworks were set out upon the floor at the end. Even with some new faces present, the quality remained high. An artist complimented me: “Great poses! I was at a life drawing group yesterday where the model moved one way and then another but they didn’t do anything! It was so boring I ended up drawing the other artists.” The words were much appreciated, and a helpful reminder never to get complacent.