After a good Monday night workout at a long-established venue, Wednesday evening brought the fresh anticipation that comes when modelling for the first time somewhere new. I’d been booked to pose for the life drawing group run by Ceri Ann Littlechild at Cockpit Arts, in central London.
Cockpit Arts is housed in a large building that accommodates many artists’ studios. I arrived early and was told by two chaps in fluorescent jackets that I should go to the first floor. No-one else was about, all the studios were shut, so I wandered around the warren of corridors till their creaky wooden floorboards led me somewhere promising.
At the far end I found a large room where Ceri Ann was preparing. It seemed the ideal space: light, airy, plenty of room for all six artists to work at easels, and a simple yet comfortable sofa for me to pose on, with my back to the wall. When all the expected artists were present, to the accompaniment of Ceri Ann’s mellow playlist, we began.
Three standing poses of 2-minutes, 3-minutes and 5-minutes provided the warm-up. I followed with 10-minutes sitting on the floor with my arms back on the sofa cushions, then two poses of 15-minutes: reclining on the sofa whilst propped on one elbow, and seated on the floor again with my face down on the sofa cushions.
After a break for red wine – wine! – we resumed with poses of 20 and 25-minutes. For the first one I sat on the sofa cushions with one elbow crooked tightly around a raised knee and my other hand on my head; for the last I sat on the back of the sofa, leaning down onto one of its arms.
For a relatively modest group, the artists had a wide range of experience and abilities, but everybody was friendly and engaging. Ceri Ann herself offered occasional words of advice but for most of the time we simply let the gentle music wash over us. I couldn’t have hoped for a nicer début. Feedback was upbeat, and I look forward to a return.
If I’m honest, when I got on the train headed for east London, I really wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it was a Monday thing… but then again, I seem to have had bookings every Monday for weeks now. Patchy sleep recently, perhaps, or an uninspiring morning and afternoon in the day job, possibly. Whatever the reason, halfway to the venue I decided I would work this one till every pose hurt, just to bring my focus back.
The easy part was feeling engaged with the group; I was back at Eastbourne House working for Adrian Dutton. It’s well established, and Adrian himself is so charming, accommodating and professional, that one would imagine all models here must feel invigorated to give the best they can. I was asked if I would like to work with a prop this time so, feeling in the mood, I opted for a martial arts stick.
I kicked off with 10-minutes standing, leaning onto the stick, then went with four more standing poses, quickfire 2-minutes, 1-minute, 3-minutes and 5-minutes. For the next quarter of an hour I descended to a kind of kneeling squat with arced arms, balancing on fingers and toes. If I had indeed meant to find hurt, then this was the pose where I achieved my goal, but it was OK.
Either side of our half-time tea break I was back posing with the stick: for 20-minutes before the interval, I was seated with it across the back of neck; for 10-minutes upon resuming, I stood with it across my shoulders. Both poses had their little discomforts but nothing painful – a slightly numb left arm was the only casualty by the end of the standing pose.
After brief poses of 2-minutes and 1-minute, we went with 15-minutes and 20-minutes to a finish. I lay on the floor for the first of these, twisted with one knee and one elbow raised, and then finished as I’d begun: standing, but by now content to keep it simple with one hand on hip and the other on neck. I’d posed myself back to life, and walked home achier but happier for it.
When Esther staged a Spirited Bodies group life modelling event at Bargehouse on London’s southbank back in November last year, Tatiana Moressoni kindly agreed to be official photographer. Spirited Sound at Bargehouse was a magnificent success, and Tatiana’s photos were a superb record, so Esther and I gladly repaid the favour by modelling together for her Camberwell Life Drawing group at The Cambria pub.
The session was billed as ~LONG Poses~ but in practice this simply meant no quick dynamic work. In the first half we would be posing for 15-minutes, another 15-minutes and 30-minutes. Most of our recent duo work has been cosy and gentle, so for variety we decided to start this one with us both standing and our hands upon each other, as if locked in some kind of struggle.
We were expecting it to be a lot easier to pick poses for this session because: (a) our backs would be against the wall rather than in the round; (b) we could make ourselves comfortable on The Cambria’s majestic red sofa that has served so many fine models. For the next 15-minutes, Esther remained standing with hands on my shoulders while I perched on the sofa’s front and wrapped my arms around her from behind.
Predictions of comfort proved to be premature, alas. Very early on in this one I began to slip back gradually from the firm edge, down into the soft cushions. The only way I could sustain the pose was to support much of my weight through my thigh muscles; hard going for quarter of an hour. At least our half-hour seated pose before the interval was soft, tender and well-supported for us both.
For the second half, artists were asked whether they would rather have one 45-minute pose or two 20-25 minute poses. Apparently they usually choose the latter so we had already got our first pose worked out for it – a kind of role-reversed Pietà. Needless to say this time they preferred the single pose. We stayed with our idea but it was a real strain for Esther. She did tremendously well, even with a break to stretch.
Our work had inspired some sublime art. This was the first time two models had been booked for an evening at The Cambria, and Tatiana’s social media marketing seemed to have struck a chord – after a period of varying numbers in attendance, this session attracted no fewer than 20 artists. We shared a celebratory bottle of wine and stories from London’s art rooms. It had been good to repay one success with another.
My second booking for Life Drawing in Leytonstone, at The Plough and Harrow pub, came almost exactly one year after the first. Whereas the first was arranged on the afternoon of the session itself, however, this had been comfortably in the diary for some time. I arrived nice and early to find Jenny – the group’s organiser – well on the way to having chairs, lights, heaters, art materials, tea and biscuits all set out.
A steady stream of artists arrived right up to our 7:30pm start time. As at my previous visit, one of the regular artists – Bill – was already comfortable in a grand chair when I arrived. Other regulars followed, along with several first-timers. Jenny greeted them all individually, with particular attention given to those who had never drawn here before. It meant we were a little late getting underway.
There would be three poses in the first half: 10-minutes, 15-minutes and 25-minutes. I decided to stand for the first, kneel for the second and sit on the floor for the third. My standing pose was particularly elongated as I reached up, with one arm hooked above my head; I set my limbs asymmetrically at awkward angles while kneeling; the sitting pose was conventional but still with lots of angles.
For my single long 50-minute pose after the break, I sat upon a chair and deliberately kept myself compact, with legs and arms folded in to contrast the earlier open-limbed poses. The group worked silently save for Bill’s occasional uncompromising muttered self-criticisms. He’s a character, and showed me a couple of his drawings afterwards. I wasn’t sure about the accuracy of those drips in the kneeling pose!
Not having had much sleep over the previous evenings and still with a journey home of more than an hour ahead, I regretfully declined to stay on for a drink. It had been good to see Jenny again, having missed spotting her at the Monsterlune fashion show in February, and to hear about her latest art projects. Same time next year, perhaps?
My train and tube connections worked out kindly for me on the way to this booking yesterday, but to scant advantage. I arrived 25 minutes early and found the building locked. Patrick – the group’s organiser – arrived five minutes later, and he too was surprised by the lock-out. Artists were also obliged to wait patiently in the pleasant evening air until a key-holder could be summoned.
Once inside, artists worked quickly to help Patrick set out chairs while I slipped into my lightweight gown. We even had a couple of minutes spare before our 7pm start. I kicked off with a 15-minute standing pose in which my right arm was raised to hold a ceiling beam, then followed with another 15-minute pose, seated, wherein both arms were wrapped tightly around my thighs.
The thigh-clasping pose left me with a delightful array of pink blotches on my arms, my legs and even where my forehead had been pressed on to my knees. I flaunted these colours over the next half-hour in an angular seated pose that took us to the midway interval. When the artists returned from their extended tea break, a single 35-minute semi-reclining pose took us to a finish.
I sat upon a pillow, on the floor, with my head lolling heavily on my arms, which were crooked across a chair. The lower half of me was comfortable but during the last ten minutes a curious disorientating numbness crept into my arms. Not for too long, nor too debilitating, mercifully. It was a nice, natural session and – like the artists – I left in good spirits.
Unexpectedly, the last time Esther and I were booked together to model at The Prince Regent we ended up running the session. This time the twist was revealed in an email sent by Lisa – organiser of SketchPad Drawing – a fortnight before:
Hi Guys
I have been approached by a production company asking whether they can be part of and film the session on the 23rd. They would only need one of you to be filmed so separate modelling until they have finished.
They would want us to be starting at 5.30pm and going through till my usual finish – You would get paid for your time but I am wondering whether that’s something you are interested in?
I’m not sure it works but thought I would pass it by you. Their film will go out to a teen audience on YouTube – not sure how that works yet either re full nudity – anyway
let me know xx
thanks
Lisa
Both of us would have been game, but I couldn’t get there from my day job until a little after 6pm. Whether I was present or not was immaterial, however, as Esther was the perfect natural pick to represent the profession of life model for an audience of young people. Her work as Artistic Director of Spirited Bodies has seen her nurturing the new and the nervous for years.
When I arrived, Esther had already completed an interview (clothed) – educating the production team in nuances of gender politics that might otherwise be overlooked. Lisa was setting out more easels in the room where filming would take place, and artists were starting to arrive. Esther undressed and began a sequence of 2-minute poses while filming focused on David, the young guy who would later try modelling.
As an artist he was tentative, not wholly comfortable, but took the challenge seriously and had an honest go at it. Lisa offered him coaching advice as she moved Esther on to 5-minute poses and slightly longer. When the time came for him to model naked, however, he needed no extra encouragement, just practical advice on how to channel his enthusiasm into the creation of interesting sustainable poses.
So, while artists in the production room had drawn Esther solo and were now drawing David solo, I passed time in the adjoining room scribbling notes for my blog about our last work together at Mall Galleries. By now, other artists were arriving and setting up around me for the regular session that begins at 7:45pm. Come that time, I got into an open-ended solo pose myself.
I’d been in pose for about 5 minutes when Lisa looked in and – after checking with me first – declared that it would continue for a further quarter of an hour. The idea was that this would be sufficient time for the production team to clear away, allowing Esther and me to pose together. In fact they were still packing up when Esther joined me for the next informal 10-minute pose.
Having finished this swift duet, we found the YouTube crew had departed at last and we could rearrange the two room layouts. The plan was to set up two tables in the doorway that connected the rooms, and then rotate the semi-circles of easels to face our new location. There was some scepticism (partly from me) but Lisa was confident and, of course, ultimately proven right in her approach.
Our initial seated pose was not the most sumptuously comfortable arrangement for either of us, but it was intoxicating fun simply to gaze at each other for 20-minutes, exchanging happy little mutters. We had time for a 10-minute pose before the break so we reprised one from two days before at Mall Galleries, with Esther standing and me lower down, hugging her hips.
Feedback during the interval was that our work was greatly appreciated but presented a real challenge for the artists to capture two figures satisfactorily in the limited time available. We closed the session with a single long pose of 40-minutes, which gave everyone ample chance to find the lines, shadows and tones. I leaned back onto the wooden door frame, while Esther put her feet up and leaned onto my chest.
For all our combined years of experience as life models, Esther and I are still learning the right balance between aesthetic intimacy and sustainable comfort. Neither of us likes to feel our own pain, nor the pain of the other; we both had aches at the end. Yet it is such a privilege and pleasure to immerse in this work. A celebratory vegetarian pizza on the way home was well earned. Now we await the final YouTube edit.
My third time life modelling at Mall Galleries with Esther was set to be our first time duo posing there for a full session. We had duo posed on my début visit but that was a half-length session ahead of the group’s Christmas drinks. We were then separated for our second booking together, with Esther on 15-minute poses and me doing the half-hour shifts. Now, at last, we were both on the half-hours, and could thus pose as a couple for the entire evening… or so we thought.
Always at Hesketh Hubbard Art Society, there are 15-minute and 30-minute poses, a long pose and a portrait pose. I had arrived first and was loitering in the wings when Simon – who books all the models – breezed by and declared, “Our long-pose model hasn’t arrived so I’m afraid I may have to split you up.” Fortunately when Esther joined me she spotted a regular artist who is also a model, and who kindly volunteered to be the replacement. Our gig was still on; we began with 30-minutes standing.
Before commencing we practised a few intimate combinations in the pose space, so the artists would have had a fair idea of what to expect. Indeed, we’d worked on four poses the previous afternoon at Esther’s flat. All was going to plan… except over the course of half an hour, unforeseeable aches and discomfort emerge. One of Esther’s legs suffered in particular, so we improvised our second pose with both of us seated, such that it would bring rest to the afflicted limb.
When we resumed after a tea break we got back on track with our pre-prepared work. Pose number three had me laying down flat, with my body and legs making a twisted curve, while Esther sat upright in the middle space. In all our poses we were finding a strong connection, but we were also mindful of the need to provide interesting profiles from 360° perspectives. That meant trying to have some face in view from every angle, and not concealing our most interesting shapes.
For our final pose we planned for both of us to be seated but when the moment came, Esther had the urge to stand. She straddled my left shoulder and placed one hand on my hair while I rested my left cheek against her left hip and linked my hands in a loop through her legs. It was the most comfortable pose of the evening – a lovely, warming way to end the session. Afterwards we perused gleefully all the wonderful art created, and later joined several artists for a drink. Very happy days.
steve ritter 