Topolski Studio, London, 12 March 2025

15 Mar 2025

Sixteen weeks after a particularly cold evening of life drawing at Topolski Studio for one of Adrian Dutton’s groups, I was back… and so too was the ‘arctic blast’. I was rather unlucky as temperatures had been unseasonably high only a few days before, but then plummeted. Such is life. As per my November booking, I got on with it.

On the plus side, at least this time the three little fan heaters did not keep cutting out. All are so weak, however, that on their own they couldn’t possibly overload the studio circuits. The failures occurred last time when portable radiators were also plugged-in. This time no radiators were in use, so no failures, but also no prospect of extra heat.

As a model in these situations the key is to plan poses well in advance. I knew all the likely pose lengths for the whole session before I started, so mentally I planned how I would alternate between standing, sitting and reclining, constantly changing direction in the round, such that I could best avoid two successive ‘cold’ poses.

‘Cold’ poses are the ones that are too remote either from the proximity or direction of the heaters for them to provide any respite. A 20-minute standing pose at the start of the second half was my one truly shiveringly-cold position but I’d taken it on knowing that I would finish the session sitting with a heater close to my back. I survived.