LIFE DRAWING

The beauty and asymmetry of the human form.

I was a life-model during the year I studied dramatherapy at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, in the 1990s. I modelled regularly for a class of illustrators at Central Saint Martins College of Art, in Tottenham Court Road — and from there I modelled for the sculptors at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and also for society portrait artist of the day, George Bruce. It was the perfect job! It paid way better than waitressing, fitted with my class times and has given me a lifetime of inspiration.

I had been an art-student myself. My parents saw some sketches I had done at school, aged 12. The drawings were promising, and so my mother arranged for me to attend life-drawing classes at Wellington Polytechnic School of Design. I would take the bus there and spend 2 hours every Wednesday night drawing female and male nude models, still in my school uniform. At age 12. My parents were pretty progressive.

But, drawing those clothed and naked bodies taught me that we sketchers were not…