Morley College, London, 15 June 2016

I’d made my first appearance at Morley College over two successive Wednesdays in March, and was back for more of the same this month. Once again I was working for a group of five students, plus their tutor, Gillian. Once again the plan was to start off with short poses and then hold a single long pose that I would resume the next week. After some debate, it was decided I should begin with three poses of 10-minutes each.

Gillian was quite clear that she wanted angles and twists, with Egon Schiele being the familiar reference. I am used to this and grateful that tutors and group organisers see the potential in me as it brings me regular bookings. Even so, twists and angles equal pain, and I can’t help but be envious of colleagues with a fuller-figure for whom the request can be just comfort and curves – no disrespect to hard-working models!

My third pose of the session – sitting down with one knee raised and hands locked in an arch – was well received, so I was asked to provide a modified version as my main pose. I found a sustainable equivalent and settled down, first for half-an-hour up to our coffee break, and then another 55-minutes to a close. By the end of the evening there were already some strong compositions emerging.

Work on this pose would be finished next week so Gillian took reference photos as an aid to getting both me and the moveable furniture back in position. To be continued…