Shirley Methodist Church, Croydon, 5 June 2023

There’s something Croydon, figurative art and churches. My previous modelling work there had been at East Croydon United Reform Church and Christ Church Methodist Addiscombe. The latter had been for The Croydon Art Society. This session for the same group was at their new venue: Shirley Methodist Church.

I was to pose for portraits, so in both baggage and imagination I travelled light. It is a curious paradox that if I’m to pose completely nude, I’ll bring a backpack, but if I’m to be fully clothed, I bring nothing. What’s in the backpack, you ask? My dressing gown, my trusty white sheet, and a small tube for those occasional gifts of artworks.

Not that I wouldn’t appreciate the gift of a portrait – I do! It’s just that if I have no other reason to bring a bag, then the tube doesn’t come with me. But I digress. Back to me seated inside a horseshoe of tables occupied by this friendly community of artists: an unbroken 55 minutes took us to tea and biscuits, then 45 minutes took us to the end.

I was offered the chance to take breaks throughout but declined them all. A mistake I made, however, was to assume “portrait” meant only my face was being drawn. I did move my hands and feet occasionally, without realising some artists were attempting to capture my full figure. Sorry folks! And thank you all for your kindness.