83a Geffrye Street, London, 29 April 2019

The wild fluctuation of attendance numbers at drop-in art groups continues to perplex me. Not too long ago I had in excess of forty people drawing me at The Workshop in Hoxton without a seat to spare, yet this evening we were down to about a third of that amount. At least there was room for everybody to spread out and be comfortable. We started with the customary 10-minute standing pose.

Quickfire stuff followed – three poses of 2-minutes, two of 5-minutes – after which two 15-minute poses took us to a break. As ever, a table loaded with assorted breads and dips was set-out as a focal point for socialising, while Bourbon biscuits and teas were available in the kitchen. With fewer folk mingling and munching, however, we returned to creativity sooner than usual, starting the second half with another 10-minute pose.

We had time left for poses of 30-minutes and 25-minutes. Bucking convention I made the first of these a reclining pose with various twists and elevations of limbs but didn’t get my legs balanced quite right so it became a teeny bit more achy than was strictly necessary. I ended the session as I’d begun it: on my two feet with arms gesturing. It had been a low-key session but resulted in some high-quality art.