47/49 Tanner Street, London, 16 October 2024

22 Oct 2024

This booking for Tanner Street life drawing was my third in three successive days. The last time I’d modelled for three successive days was way back on 23, 24, and 25 February 2020. Within a month, we had the first UK COVID-19 Lockdown. It’s taken almost two and half years since the final lockdown for me to get back to this level.

Back when I had a full-time day-job I tried not to accept too many life model bookings on successive evenings as the resulting work/life balance simply wasn’t healthy. Now I’m liberated from those shackles, however, I can be more relaxed about having a full diary. In theory, that is. It still depends on me getting any offers. 🙂

In addition to work/life balance, I must also be mindful of the physical impact. Mine is the sort of body that lends itself aesthetically to stretching, twisting, angular postures. Whilst it might be lovely to get bookings that require only for me to sprawl across soft pillows and look ravishing, that’s not what – or who – I am. My poses tend to hurt!

So, although I hope to increase my life modelling activities over the coming months, I also intend to keep building-in recovery breaks. Tanner Street life drawing was a nice way to finish my back-to-back evenings; great people, great space, dynamic poses in the first half, tea and biscuits, then a relatively recuperative long-pose to finish.

There is a bonus for anyone who attends this group’s sessions up to the first week of December. You can immerse in soundscapes emanating from the Ugly Duck building next door, where ‘Eclipse’ by Nonotak is exploring “the power and impact of light on visual perception when combined with space and sound“. Intensely atmospheric.