Waterloo Action Centre, London, 13 December 2025 – part 1

29 Dec 2025

Following Tuesday’s short-notice booking with London Drawing in Covent Garden, it was a very pleasant surprise when another offer arrived from them just 48 hours later for a Saturday double-booking at Waterloo Action Centre.

Although the Saturday doubles are thought of as short-pose and long-pose sessions, in fact they both open with quick poses. The difference comes after the breaks, when the first session has two 20-minute poses and the second has one of 40 minutes.

So, part 1: quicks plus two 20s. It being the penultimate weekend before Christmas, I hadn’t expected a vast attendance but again I was pleasantly surprised when at least forty artists turned up. They love to draw, draw, draw while they can!

As per my last visit here, this session was led by irrepressible tutor, artist, model, and all-round force of nature, Andrea Voisey. We started with a 10-minute warm-up, then she set me barrelling through thirteen poses of 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes.

Long sequences of short poses are probably still my favourite part of this job. They’re always fun, a chance to test the imagination, and warming too; warming to the extent that I had to switch off one of the two fan heaters on duty this December afternoon.

I stood in pose for the 13 minutes that remained of our first half. For the second half I sat in a tight twist on the floor, then stood again till the end of this part 1. Really great energy in the room. I hoped I had enough of it left myself to get me through part 2…