Mall Galleries, London, 10 May 2019

A motionless hour, seated upright, staring directly towards an unclear gaze point in an intensely blurred panorama of artists, each politely stationed within a tight semi-circle, either sitting with a sketchbook or standing at an easel: it was the first half of my pose as the portrait model for Hesketh Hubbard Art Society at Mall Galleries.

A work in progress at the half-time interval.

Everything is a blur to me when I pose without my glasses but somewhere in the mist was Tatiana Moressoni on 15-minute poses and Bella Franks on 30-minutes, whilst in another room Ed Bucknall was on the 2-hour shift. I wondered how many Hesketh members know that these three models are all very good artists in their own right?

This booking, my first for portraits at Mall Galleries since September last year, fell to me only the day before. Hesketh president, Simon had sent a reminder text message to his original model and found she had made other plans. Tatiana shared his call-out and into the breach I duly stepped… or rather, sat.

Sometimes portrait sitting can be a drowsy business, but I felt rather alert throughout this one. Within each hour, milestones were marked by the distant calls for Tatiana to change position every quarter. Time passed smoothly, with some nice artworks being the result – all quite different, yet each one somehow me. A pleasing session.