Workers’ playtime, London, 8 May 2018

I arrived twenty minutes early at the studio of an architecture practice in south London for my debut as life model with Figuration – creative community makers of art events. As the working day ended, office staff began to set out drawing materials and prepare a mouth-watering buffet of grapes, cheeses, crackers and wine. A little before 6pm we were joined by our tutor Martin, and when the hour came… everyone descended upon the refreshments! It was just too tempting. I even partook of the Rioja myself.

So the life drawing itself started 25 minutes late, but in very fine spirits. It was a warm evening. Martin had brought music and selected a mellow, upbeat bossa nova playlist. We opened with poses of 5-minutes, 10, 12-minutes with me standing or seated on a long boardroom-style table while those drawing me sat either side. Martin allowed me to pick the poses and adapted his tuition accordingly, pointing out angles, alignments, negative space and weight distribution – just a light touch to get people thinking.

Particular consideration was given to the use of colour – those that stand forward, and those that create depth. The second half also contrived practice for weaker hands as I stood for 12-minutes, then back on favoured hands I sat twice for 10-minutes, bringing the session to a close. The atmosphere in the room remained friendly, communicative and relaxed throughout; hopefully that’s how it is during working hours too. Certainly it made for one of the nicest corporate bookings I’ve been given.