The Star by Hackney Downs, 2 August 2023

Back at The Star by Hackney Downs, it was good to see the upstairs room used by Drawing the Star had been redecorated. Less good: that it happened in June on the date of my original booking, without notice. Organiser Catherine Hall found it thus…

So, we rearranged the booking for August and all was well. We even got more artists than had turned up in recent weeks. The decor had altered but pose times in the first half were old favourites: 5 minutes, 4, 3, 2, three of 1 minute, three of 30 seconds.

After the quick poses we slowed down, still staying with tried and tested timings up to the interval. For 10 minutes I sat to recharge from my preceding work-out, then stood for 10 minutes more as we brought part one to a close.

Part two began with pose-time preferences being put to a popular vote. Artists raised their hands in greatest numbers for two poses of 15 minutes. I made the first of these one of my stock stances: standing, right arm over my head, left arm behind my back.

I ended the session sitting on a low stool, left knee crooked so my left foot was under my right thigh, whilst my right leg was out straight; right hand on right hip, left forearm resting across left thigh. Not the most comfortable, but I fancied it was nicely angular.

All done, works were placed around the floor for all to admire – and indeed there was much to admire. After tidying up, we descended to the bar for extracurricular drinks. It had been a nice evening; great to see Catherine again, great to be back.