Mall Galleries, London, 21 February 2022

There’s a lot I like about posing for Hesketh Hubbard Art Society at Mall Galleries. Portrait modelling is satisfying work for a kindly, close-up crowd of talented devotees. Short poses of 15 minutes (just the once) and 30 minutes (pre-pandemic) attracted a bigger crowd of keen observants at centre stage in the main gallery. And long poses, well… that can be rather more detached and gruelling. Yup, I was back on ‘long’.

Artwork by Anthony Roe.

I arrive. I adjust cushions. I spread my sheet. I disrobe. I sit. I remain motionless from whenever seems about right. An hour elapses. No sounds. No speaking. A hubbub in the short-pose space eventually tells me it’s surely half-time. Yet no-one speaks here. Two walk off. Still I sit. Another minute or so. Still artists paint. Then one says, “I think that’s the break”. I have been motionless for over an hour. I put on my robe. I get tea.

Artwork by Anthony Roe.

The interval lasts 15 minutes. A voice from the main gallery calls: “OK, it’s time to get started”. I resume as before. We repeat as before. One hour passes. A hubbub in the short-pose space tells me time’s up. I remain motionless. Artists are packing up to go home. Still I sit. Still my artists paint. Then one says, “I think that’s it”. We exchange a “thank you”. I get dressed… And, you know, everyone I talk with is genuinely lovely.