2 drawing sessions

This week I went to two different life drawing sessions here in Brighton where we're spoilt for choice.
The Monday night class upstairs at the Farm Tavern pub is my new regular spot as the girl who runs it Rachel Mortimer makes  us do interesting exercises like drawing with your wrong hand or drawing with a continuous line. My best attempts at drawing the fabulous Chiara are below.
Then on Tuesday night I went to Bill Donohoe's class at The Sussex Arts Club which is still my favourite. The model was a lovely young University student called Lottie whom I hadn't drawn before. She was excellent and my scribblings are below.

Sarah Jane! and more Emma

Yesterday afternoon as the snow festooned the town, the fabulous Alexa Garside and I had a private drawing session with the stunningly beautiful Sarah Jane Gay. She reminds me of a young Kirsten Scott Thomas whose etherial

presence has graced many a film like The English Patient. SJ has just returned from 3 months in Madrid where she became much more fluent in Spanish than I'll ever be. Below are my best efforts and below them are drawings form the new (to me) life drawing session at the Farm Tavern on a Monday night where I drew the always excellent model Emma Sandham-King in the company of some talented and interesting gals including the frighteningly talented Manon Delacroix.

Emma

I went along to Kate Shields' monthly life drawing session from 6.30 til 8 at the lovely, funky Marwood Cafe off Ship Street in Brighton last night. Our model was Emma who is always a joy to draw. Some nights you're hot and some night's you're not as someone once said but I was in the flow last night so here are most of my drawings.

Otto

Last night's model at Jake's Sunday session was Otto who bears a striking resemblance to the late actor pete Postlethwaite. Interesting chap to draw. I'd forgotten to take my favourite brush pen so I bought some charcoal and had a go with that. My good pal Alexa was there as was her good pal Pearl Bates who is also a very talented artist. So I was esteemed company.

Here are the best of my smearings.

Banned by the BBC!

Yes, it's true! After many years in the illustration business I've finally been banned by the BBC for a cartoon that they commissioned in the first place. Here's the story-
For a few years now I've been producing comic strips for the weekly BBC football mag Match of the Day. A few weeks ago they were planning their Christmas issue and asked me to draw a double page spread showing the Nativity with footballers and MOTD presenters taking the place of the three wise men, shepherds, Jesus etc. So I drew up a rough for approval before going ahead with the finished illustration showing Wayne Rooney as the baby Jesus, Mario Balotelli as the Angel, Sir Alex Ferguson as Mary etc...
This was approved by the good chaps on the magazine so I drew it up (see below) then got an e-mail back saying they loved it but when they showed it to the MD he said they couldn't use it as "we could be accused of inciting racial hatred." EH? How? But you can't argue with the MD so the mag asked me to change it from a Nativity scene into "I'm a Footballer Get me out of Here!" with the background changed into a jungle, Mario's angel turned into an eagle and Wayne's baby Jesus as a kangaroo!
I protested that would be almost a complete redraw and they agreed to pay me a bit more but Blimey O'Riley, how sensitive are the BBC getting?
Below are the before and after cartoons.

Amy (I think)

I managed to fit in half a life drawing class yesterday afternoon inbetween Christmas shopping and doing the Sleazy and Cheesy Christmas Podcast with Mark Harrison. The model who's name, I think, was Amy was a new one on me and very lovely to draw she was. here are the best of a small bunch of mainly 3 minute poses.

Zoe

Finally got around to doing some life drawing after most of the Christmas deadlines have been met.

The model at Bill's Tuesday night session for The Sussex Arts Club was the excellent and lissome Zoe who I've drawn a few times before and she's a very good model. I felt exhausted after the class, though as it really demands total concentration and if you haven't done it for a while it can tire you out. (No sniggering at the back!) Had to repair to Chez Cemmo afterwards for  a stiff glass of Vino Collapso.