The Finborough Arms, London, 29 October 2016

I wish I had a photograph of the sight that greeted me and Esther as we entered The Cellar, beneath The Finborough Arms. Aless and Mandy of The Moon and Nude had not held back in creating a special Halloween life drawing space: a stage draped black and cobwebbed, carved pumpkins with candles at the edges, more candles on all the tables for artists and to one side a delectable buffet of wine, cheeses, biscuits, cakes and chocolate. All it needed was life models, suitably adorned.

We retreated to the ladies’ toilets and applied face paints: Esther as a witch, me as a skeleton. I wore a see-through cobweb-patterned cape; Esther had long black wig and a bat-shaped eye mask. We were ready with a minute or so to spare. Aless asked us about pose lengths – we agreed: 10-minutes to start, 20-minutes to follow, 30-minutes to the interval. After a break we ended with poses of 25 and 15-minutes. A soundtrack of monster-themed songs played throughout to a lively room.

We had been privileged to be booked for consecutive sessions of this monthly group. Whilst September had been relatively quiet, this one was full-to-bursting with artists, and rightly so. The efforts made by the organisers deserved proper appreciation; I like to think everyone had a fine time. For me and Esther, it was nearly a year since we’d first posed together, during DeadFriday at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. We are still refining the art of our duo modelling – it’s a beautiful journey to share.

© The Moon and Nude

© The Moon and Nude

© The Moon and Nude