St Pancras Church House, London, 14 December 2023

More than 30 million people passed through London Euston station during 2022/23. I wonder how many knew that a detour of just 110m on Thursday evenings would lead them to the welcoming world of life drawing? Few would ever notice the venue if they weren’t actively looking: the hall of St Pancras Church House on Lancing Street.

London Drawing holds weekly life drawing classes at different venues on different days. I’d been warned that Thursday is usually the least busy day, and pre-Christmas is often the quietest period, so we weren’t expecting a vast crowd of artists. Happily a late influx during the 10-minute warm-up pose gave us a respectable gathering.

As per my previous session for London Drawing, at Waterloo Action Centre the week before, my opening warm-up was followed by some 2-minute poses. I improvised my way through seven in total, then slowed back down with three more 10-minute poses. First I stood, then perched on a piano stool for the next two, taking us to our break.

When legs had been stretched, teas sipped, and Celebrations chocolates consumed, we completed the session with two poses of 20 minutes each. I remained seated, but at the suggestion of an artist I exchanged the piano stool for a chair with a back. This assisted me to turn away for one pose and forward for the next. Variation, you see.

It had been a simple yet satisfying evening’s work. Unusually for a church hall venue, the ambient temperature – by December standards – stayed warm throughout, aided by ubiquitous little workhorse fan heaters. After dressing and loitering a while to chat, it was time for me to depart; one of this year’s 30 million drifting through Euston.

A huge thank you to artist Mark Woods for sharing all his drawings from the session, below. Such a rare treat to see a complete colourful set!