Mall Galleries, London, 25 October 2019

For this Friday evening gathering of Hesketh Hubbard Art Society at Mall Galleries the models were Esther on 15-minute poses (sensuous slot), me on 30-minute poses (workhorse slot), Tanja smiling serenely on portraits, and Magda – who I have not yet met – in the separate space for gruelling long poses.

Artwork by Anthony Roe.

For the first half-hour I stood with my right foot a pace forward, right arm out, left hand on hip and a slight twist to the torso. For the second half-hour I reclined and extended my left arm fully vertical. On Monday I had pushed this pose to 25-minutes for the first time and now I’d made it to 30; still quite comfortable, but maybe that’s the safe limit.

Once our 15-minute break for tea and biscuits had raced by with indecent haste, I got into a seated position for my third pose. This one probably overran by a minute as the chap who calls “change please” for the 15-minute slots – and who is barely audible at the best of times – now entered whisper mode at the very moment I needed him.

Artwork by Simon Whittle.

Esther wasn’t fully in my line of sight but I thought I saw a movement. Still uncertain, I asked my artists if they’d heard a time call and a couple of voices confirmed they had. Very well. I clambered to my feet and for the last 30-minutes stood with both forearms angled outwards at waist level.

Artwork by Anthony Roe.

My right arm started to ache a little towards the end but in general this was a painless evening’s toil. Afterwards it was good to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in months, and to photograph some fine artworks before they were spirited away – one has to be quick. In all, a positive session. It was nice to be back life modelling here.