The Green, London, 23 May 2017

It seemed such a tiny room at The Green in Nunhead; just 12′ by 15′, supposedly for a capacity of ten, yet by the end of the evening I was posing with my back to the wall for 13 artists. Nunhead Drawing Group is young in all respects – I believe this may have been only their eighth session – and with its freshness comes friendliness and a willingness to accommodate. Cushions had been heaped in one corner for me and, at 7pm, I disrobed to commence what would be a series of short poses.

We opened with four 1-minute poses: kneeling; thrusting; cringing; balancing. Next, a 3-minute pose as if pulling a rope, followed by three poses of 5-minutes: standing with palms facing outwards on top of my head; kneeling with both hands to the floor; and a cross-legged full lotus, with hands as if in prayer. The first half closed with 10-minutes seated alongside the wall with one leg straight, the other bent, and finally, 15-minutes standing with one arm over my head and the other across my belly.

I cooled down with a pint of water during the interval. It was sufficiently warm that we’d had a fire escape window wide open throughout the session. We fitted four poses into the second half: 20-minutes seated, folded sideways to hug the cushions; 15-minutes seated upright, with one knee raised and arms making a T-shape; 5-minutes standing with legs crossed and arms crossing my chest; 5-minutes upside down, rolled on my back with knees to chest. All thoroughly enjoyable! Hope to do it again some time.