The Conservatoire, Blackheath, 14 October 2024

We had a full house of 12 artists at easels this week for Monday evening life drawing at The Conservatoire in Blackheath. As usual, we began with five dynamic warm-up poses ranging from 1 minute to 10 minutes.

Our remaining two hours would be occupied by one single long pose. For inspiration, tutor Victoria Rance scanned through the artworks I’ve shared on this blog, and was drawn to a seated pose from last month at Tottenham Art Classes.

The Tottenham version only had to be held for 10-15 minutes, so a few modifications were required to make it sustainable over a greater duration. We prepared the space and I held my shape for an initial 45 minutes before taking a 15-minute break.

Upon resuming we had great difficulty recreating the pose to everybody’s satisfaction based on their drawings up to that point. Note to self: when commencing a long pose with complex positioning, make sure a reference photo is taken at the outset!

To avoid a repeat of the same difficulties I decided to remain in position for the full 50 minutes to our finish. It wasn’t too challenging for the first 30 minutes of each half but thereafter it was all about managing fiery muscle pain down both sides of my back.

As reward for my perseverance, the session was brought to its end 5 minutes earlier than usual, which meant I was able to catch the earlier of my two possible Cinderella trains home – but still with time to appreciate the artists’ splendid creations.

Pose minutes, 7:30pm-10pm

Part 1 : 1, 1, 1, 5, 10.
— break —
Part 2 : 45, (15-minute rest), 50 continuation.

Artworks

With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.

Second 1-minute pose.