Lorna May Wadsworth
Artists & Illustrators|January 2020
As the Sheffield portrait painter readies for a major hometown retrospective, she tells us stories about approaching Margaret Thatcher and reworking the Last Supper. Interview: RACHAEL FUNNELL
Rachael Funnell
Lorna May Wadsworth
When did you receive your first portrait commission?

When I was 14 or 15, I’d had commissions to paint people’s children. I remember one time a man in a shop got me to paint his wife from photos. He loved the painting, but when he showed it to her she hated it, so he refused to pay me. It was a really important learning curve: don’t do surprises, meet the person, work from your own photos if you can’t paint from life and, crucially, always get a deposit up front.

How do you interact with your sitters?

I guess it’s just about putting people at ease and making them feel comfortable, engaging with them on a human level like you would anybody, being interested in them and putting all of that into the work.

How have you secured so many high-profile sitters?

It was a mixture of me being ready to grab any opportunity that came at me and people’s generosity. I only painted David Blunkett because I wrote him a letter saying, “You’re not in the National Portrait Gallery and I think you should be.”

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Still life IN 3 HOURS
Artists & Illustrators

Still life IN 3 HOURS

Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn

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Movement in composition
Artists & Illustrators

Movement in composition

Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement

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Shane Berkery
Artists & Illustrators

Shane Berkery

The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio

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The Working Artist
Artists & Illustrators

The Working Artist

Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work

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Washes AND GLAZES
Artists & Illustrators

Washes AND GLAZES

Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING

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Hands
Artists & Illustrators

Hands

LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands

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7 mins  |
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Vincent van Gogh
Artists & Illustrators

Vincent van Gogh

To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display

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BRING THE drama
Artists & Illustrators

BRING THE drama

Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene

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7 mins  |
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Serena Rowe
Artists & Illustrators

Serena Rowe

The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall

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8 mins  |
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Bill Jacklin
Artists & Illustrators

Bill Jacklin

Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration

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