Lewisham Arthouse, London, 23 February 2020

Five identical poses, each one held for 1-minute then rotated 72° or thereabouts, and held again. Thus began ‘Printing from Life: Monotype and Life Drawing‘, organised by London Drawing Group at Lewisham Arthouse.

I’d posed for one of the group’s monotype sessions at this venue last autumn, loving its novelty; with the final act of creation coming after each pose, not during. As before, the session was expertly guided by Frances Stanfield.

I followed the single-minute rotation with a twisted upright pose of 10 minutes. Next, I sat with my right leg outstretched, my left foot on my right knee and hands behind my head for 20-minutes. Not quite the position of total relaxation it may have appeared.

For sitting, I had the choice of either a regular plastic chair or a tiny little six-inch high wooden stool. In the previous pose I’d used the latter to support my heels, but for the next 15 minutes I tried perching my backside upon it… and just about succeeded.

A brace of 8-minute poses took us to the session’s end: first standing, then squatting once more on the cute wee stool. As I found the last time I posed for monotype work, the most effective poses are those with strong outlines, shapes and negative space.

It’s fascinating to observe so many different styles emerge from this process; curious textures, scrapes and lines. My favourites were dark backgrounds with scratched out blocks or swirls or light. Lots of experimenting, lots of imagination, lots of fun.