The Old Nun’s Head, London, 16 July 2019

How to commence at The Old Nun’s Head? It’s usual for Nunhead Drawing Group to begin with a set of 1-minute poses but, as this was a duo session with Esther and me, we suggested at least 2-minutes for two figures. A compromise was reached: we started with five poses of 90-seconds each.

After the warm-ups we progressed to a 15-minute pose with Esther standing over my reclining body, with my arms raised to her legs. Next, I sat on the floor for 25-minutes while Esther lay across my lap, her head cradled in my left hand. These gentle poses brought us to our interval; an ache here, some numbness there, but generally cosy.

The second half opened with a 20-minute split-level seated pose, with Esther perched above the fireplace (no fire!) and me on a chair just below her. We then sat together in an embrace on the floor for 15-minutes before concluding with a flurry of four 1-minute poses. Yes, they got their 1-minute poses after all.

It was nice to be life modelling as a duo. Our last work together had been four months ago, in mid-March, and then there was Esther’s Have I Got Nudes For You event at the end of March but nothing else since. Happily we have three duo sessions lined up for September, but many thanks go to our Nunhead friends for this summer evening.