Hornsey Arts Centre, London, 25 October 2016

The good news is that those lovely people at The Moon and Nude have a new venue for life drawing; they now occupy the ply gallery at Hornsey Arts Centre on Tuesday evenings. The sad news is that it’s a replacement for Wednesdays at The Old Dairy in Crouch Hill, where the landlord decided there’s more money to be milked from evening diners than artists and nude models. Not my idea of progress…

Hornsey Arts Centre is located within a massive complex of civic buildings. I’d arrived half an hour ahead of time and needed the first 20 minutes just to find the place. One downside of being early is that a right place may seem a wrong place when the lights are out and doors locked. On my third attempt to get in I was greeted by a somewhat relieved-looking Julia, the session’s organiser. I quickly undressed and began.

Whilst The Old Dairy was often rammed with artists, this new gallery venue is clearly still in the process of establishing itself. Nonetheless, eight fine folk had paid to draw me so I gave them my best. Poses started quick and got longer: 1-minute, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 20-minutes during the first half. After the interval, I perched upon a high stool for 45-minutes, taking us to a finish.

Disconcertingly, four artists – half the group! – packed up and left about quarter of an hour from the end. I attributed this to coincidence rather a commentary on my poses, as those who remained were particularly generous with their applause, plus personal compliments afterwards. Julia herself was especially sweet, even handing me a nice bottle of Shiraz to share with Esther. I’ll drink to her health and the group’s success!