The Victoria Stakes, London, 9 January 2023

In the hour before I was due to leave home for this job, my local rail company saw fit to flash “delayed” across every live journey update on its website. A quarter of an hour later, everything jumped back to normal without any explanation. Nonetheless, I was sufficiently unnerved to leave earlier than planned. After two trains and a brisk walk up from Crouch Hill, I reached The Victoria Stakes a full half-hour before our 7pm start.

Artwork by Rosalind Freeborn.

Julia of The Moon and Nude was already upstairs in the function room preparing for what would be her first session of 2023. It was nice to have time for a natter. Even so, with no event marketing since before the festive season we waited more in hope than expectation for artists to arrive. Happily, cometh the hour we had a comfortable group. We began with poses of 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes and 5 minutes.

Artwork by Jeremy Robinson.

Artwork by Rosalind Freeborn.

Artwork by Jeremy Robinson.

Artwork by Rosalind Freeborn.

With three more poses until our break, I decide to recline, sit and stand in that order. First I lay down for 10 minutes in a signature pose with left knee angled on the floor, right knee raised, left hand arched on my chest and right arm pointing up. Next I sat for 15 minutes resting back on my hands with both knees angled flat on the floor. To our interval, I stood with my left leg a pace forward and both arms extended low.

Artwork by David Fathers.

Artwork by Rosalind Freeborn.

Artwork by Jeremy Robinson.

The plan was to finish with one 45-minute pose. This left artists with just 8 minutes to fetch drinks from the bar, pop to the loo and prepare for the second half. Meanwhile, I took a leisurely stroll around the art space to appreciate artworks already made. With our restart imminent I moved a high stool to the centre of the room and perched upon it in as angular a fashion as seemed sustainable for the time remaining.

Artwork by louis000ag.

Artwork by Jeremy Robinson.

Artwork by David Fathers.

Artwork by Rosalind Freeborn.

During the opening seconds it was necessary to make a few hopefully imperceptible muscle adjustments to mitigate against any possibility of my left foot sliding from the seat. Once done, it was fairly plain sailing. Julia gave a time check every 15 minutes and between times I estimated progress by counting tracks on her enjoyable playlist. Nine o’clock arrived gently, mellow, concluding a very pleasant evening.