Lochaber Hall, London, 4 June 2022

Since the start of the year it’s been my pleasure to life model at Lochaber Hall every couple of months. I’m experiencing it through the seasons; it was a single-heater day today, and hayfever satisfactory. We opened with seven 5-minute poses. I stood, sat, stood, reclined, stood, sat, stood. Next were ten poses of 1-minute, in which I tried to represent a plant growing from seed and withering. I have a garden full of examples.

After the 1-minute poses came a 10-minute pose, and then it was time to prepare the long pose that would occupy the remainder of this session – about 2-hours, including tea interval. Group organiser David Weekes had a clear vision of what he would like: standing but leaning back with my buttocks resting on the edge of a table. As I knew I could arrange this to be relatively comfortable, I cheerfully agreed.

Whilst it’s not unknown for me to make abysmal misjudgements, on this occasion my prediction of relative comfort was not defective. In the first hour before we paused for tea and digestives I was content to decline all offers of a stretch-break. In the second half I did take two opportunities to shake the numbness from my hands, but both feet remained firmly planted until we reached our conclusion.

The table relieved my feet and legs of carrying much weight. I’d put plenty of padding under my backside to prevent posterior pains. One lower leg was kept straight and its foot flat on the ground to stop the table from sliding. My back remained straight. Thus, only my shoulders felt any aches as my arms served as supports, and only my hands tingled to intermittent loss of sensation. But it was fine, and the art developed nicely.