Would you pose for a nude portrait?

I did at 45... and it was one of the unexpectedly liberating experience of my life

Alan seemed a pleasant enough chap. I had known him for precisely 25 minutes when I took all my clothes off in his house and stood in front of him entirely naked. He gazed at my body in frank assessment, as I had known he would.

‘So,’ I said, a touch over-brightly, ‘what are we going to do first?’ Before you dismiss me as a shameless hussy, let me assure you it really isn’t what you think — I am about to become one of an increasing number of women who pose for a nude portrait.

As I stood before Alan, it became apparent that no matter how interested you are in the idea of portraiture in general and nudes in particular, how chilled you are about your physical self and how confident you are in the skill of your chosen artist, the point where you get naked in front of a near-stranger is one of those through-the-looking-glass moments.

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