Waterloo Action Centre, London, 11 April 2026 – part 2

16 Apr 2026

And begin again. Just half an hour after closing part 1 of London Drawing Saturday life drawing at Waterloo Action Centre, it’s time to start part 2. That’s 10 minutes for admiring artworks, 10 minutes for snacking, and 10 minutes to re-ready.

Once more the ever-effervescent Andrea Voisey was organising and offering tuition, this time for a ‘long pose’ session (albeit we began with plenty of rapid warm-ups). As some artists were attending both sessions, I tried not to repeat any ‘part 1’ poses.

The final two poses were 28 and 40 minutes respectively, with a 15-minute interval in between. For these I sat and stood; irrationally my ingrained working class work-ethic still afflicts me with feelings of guilt if I simply sprawl on cushions for the main pose.

You might think standing for 40 minutes would take the highest toll, but actually more damage was done during the seated pose. Something about the way I positioned my legs resulted in me suffering the delights of shin splints for the next four days.

I’m conscious that as I get older my body pays a higher price for its life model efforts. As much as I try to mitigate, time and age will inevitably have the last word. There’s a decision I’ve been trying to avoid but cannot put off forever. That is:

When to prioritise the physical health imperative of quitting modelling over the mental health imperative of continuing? In truth, much of the rest of my life has eroded away over the past year or two. Modelling is my connection to humanity. Ho hum…