The Conservatoire, Blackheath, 9 October 2023

After 30 bookings in 7 years, life modelling for classes at The Conservatoire has the comfortable feel of slipping into – or indeed, out of – a much loved garment. Naturally poses vary on each occasion but the grand old art room, with its facilities, furnishings and fittings is a reassuring constant. But what’s this..? New furniture? For the model? Incredible but, yes, The Conservatoire’s art room now has… a chaise longue!

The trouble, as tutor Victoria Rance observed, is that I am a ‘model longue‘. Being a six-foot-four model longue, I’m not optimised for a dainty lopsided sofa. One seeks to make a virtue of one’s predicament, however, in this case contriving most novel uses of the new prop as seemed reasonable for three poses of 1 minute, one of 5 minutes and one of 10 minutes – the latter with legs on the side arm and head lolling.

For our long pose of 2 hours I’d said standing would be fine. Not quite sure why I say rash things like that, but there it is. Even so, Victoria realised that martyrdom was not essential to achieving the desired outcome, and instead turned the chaise longue 90º and bade me perch upon its high side. This I gladly did and, after what must have felt to the artists like an eternity of bum-shuffling for maximum sustainability, we began.

The sustainability manoeuvres worked as I remained motionless on the edge for fully 45 minutes before taking a first stretch break. This lasted about quarter of an hour, in which time a selection of cakes and pastries from The Conservatoire’s cafe magically materialised. Perk! Slightly fatter, I resumed for 35 minutes, then took a much shorter stretch before finishing in good condition at 10pm. All hail the chaise longue!