The Cambria, London, 6 April 2016

When Esther staged a Spirited Bodies group life modelling event at Bargehouse on London’s southbank back in November last year, Tatiana Moressoni kindly agreed to be official photographer. Spirited Sound at Bargehouse was a magnificent success, and Tatiana’s photos were a superb record, so Esther and I gladly repaid the favour by modelling together for her Camberwell Life Drawing group at The Cambria pub.

The session was billed as ~LONG Poses~ but in practice this simply meant no quick dynamic work. In the first half we would be posing for 15-minutes, another 15-minutes and 30-minutes. Most of our recent duo work has been cosy and gentle, so for variety we decided to start this one with us both standing and our hands upon each other, as if locked in some kind of struggle.

We were expecting it to be a lot easier to pick poses for this session because: (a) our backs would be against the wall rather than in the round; (b) we could make ourselves comfortable on The Cambria’s majestic red sofa that has served so many fine models. For the next 15-minutes, Esther remained standing with hands on my shoulders while I perched on the sofa’s front and wrapped my arms around her from behind.

Predictions of comfort proved to be premature, alas. Very early on in this one I began to slip back gradually from the firm edge, down into the soft cushions. The only way I could sustain the pose was to support much of my weight through my thigh muscles; hard going for quarter of an hour. At least our half-hour seated pose before the interval was soft, tender and well-supported for us both.

For the second half, artists were asked whether they would rather have one 45-minute pose or two 20-25 minute poses. Apparently they usually choose the latter so we had already got our first pose worked out for it – a kind of role-reversed Pietà. Needless to say this time they preferred the single pose. We stayed with our idea but it was a real strain for Esther. She did tremendously well, even with a break to stretch.

Our work had inspired some sublime art. This was the first time two models had been booked for an evening at The Cambria, and Tatiana’s social media marketing seemed to have struck a chord – after a period of varying numbers in attendance, this session attracted no fewer than 20 artists. We shared a celebratory bottle of wine and stories from London’s art rooms. It had been good to repay one success with another.