Visions School of Art, Cork, 12 February 2018

With fewer life model bookings to be had during school half-term breaks, Esther and I chose the mid-February week for a getaway to Cork, in the Republic of Ireland. It was only after we’d arranged flights and an apartment that I thought to check out the city’s life drawing scene, and had a lucky find.

Visions School of Art holds life drawing meet-ups every Monday evening and was happy to book us for a duo session during the week of our trip. Even better, the venue turned out to be just a 5-minute walk from where we were staying. We arrived in good time for a 7pm start and began with five poses of 2-minutes, then four of 4-minutes.

Two 10-minute poses took us to our break for tea and chocolate digestives. We really warmed to this dynamic first half; each taking turns to strike a position, and the other responding to it in a complimentary way. We’ve done this sort of thing before but here in Cork we seemed to get it working particularly well.

Our closing pose of the session lasted 45-minutes with a stretch break about halfway though. We somehow managed to make this seated embrace rather less comfortable than it ought to have been, but never mind! We were well looked-after, kept warm, and managed to inspire some lovely art.

The main joy in the session was chatting with the artists themselves, both during the interval and at the end. It is worthwhile getting away from London every now and then to appreciate different perspectives. This may prove a one-off, but my first taste of life modelling outside the UK has whet my appetite for more. Thank you, Visions.