Mall Galleries, London, 16 January 2017

As usual, four models had been booked by Hesketh Hubbard Art Society and, as is more often the case, I was on 30-minute pose duty. I arrived to find the layout of Mall Galleries had changed, with two partitions now dividing the exhibition space. I asked at reception: “Where are the half-hour poses?” A genteel lady replied, “At the far end,” and then added solemnly, “it’s a man…”

“I know,” I replied, “it’s me.”

Working in the round, four poses, two either side of a tea break; I usually open with a standing pose, rotate for a sitting pose, then sit and recline in no particular order after the interval. To start, I tried a variation on my long pose at Morley College last week. In particular I wanted to test my theory that if I spent more time stretching beforehand then I wouldn’t feel as much discomfort. And, of course, it was true. Note to self…

Next I fulfilled a request. One artist had descended upon me when I arrived and asked if I would provide a specific pose for her. “I want you sit to like this,” – she said, sitting on the floor, legs wide apart, hands on knees – “with everything showing.” Not quite to all tastes, I thought, but agreed anyway. Cometh the time, I was able to angle myself so only the requester got her desired full-frontal whilst others had nice side shapes.

I resumed the second half with another seated pose, albeit this time somewhat more decorous. Facing in the opposite direction, I perched myself side-saddle on the edge of the posing bench with one arm placed in front of me and the other set behind. This was followed by a supremely comfortable twisted lay-down to end the session. It had gone well – I felt no aches or pains, and the artists shared their work enthusiastically.

As a model who is known for ‘angles’, I find the challenge with these 30-minute poses is to present four distinct positions that: (a) are interesting for the artists; (b) work well in the round; (c) are bearable for half an hour at a time. In a session that includes both short and long poses it’s much easier to offer variety. This scenario requires a bit more advance thought but, after this session, I think I may just have got the hang of it.