The Conservatoire, Blackheath, 14 January 2019

This was lovely. On my last visit to The Conservatoire I had a chill in my bones that not even three fan heaters could help shift, but now – mid-January – I was set up with an industrial-strength ceramic heater plus two small radiators. The ceramic heater on its own emitted so much heat that the radiators were immediately redundant. Bizarre then, to start with “warm-up” poses. Three of 1-minute, 5-minutes, 10-minutes…

I had it in mind that for the long pose, from 8pm to 10pm, I would offer to stand. It was surely time for me to remain upright again; or so I thought. Tutor Victoria Rance had other plans, however. Having recently rediscovered an old drawing of me in the foetal position, she was inspired to get me curled up once more. I duly lay down on my side, pulled my ankles towards my body and hooked one arm over my head.

I stayed in this position for three quarters of an hour up to the first break, which lasted about 10 minutes. For much of that time I was shaking numbness from my upper arm, but at least I’d avoided aches and pains. No such luck when we resumed, alas, as my hooked arm soon started complaining. I rode it out until the second break, then rode it out again to the end. All in a good cause, though – some very neatly proportioned art.