32 Artists&Illustrators
AstheSheffieldportraitpainterreadiesfor amajorhometown
retrospective,shetellsusstoriesaboutapproachingMargaret Thatcher
andreworkingtheLastSupper.Interview:RACHAELFUNNELL10 MINUTES WITH...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.”
They weren’t all commissions in the early days which was
the crucial thing. I’d read an article with Stuart Pearson
Wright who described how he’d gone up to John Hurt in
Soho and asked for him to sit for him. And so, when I had
graduated, I was living at home and I was stood at my bus
stop outside the Crucible Theatre and I just remember
looking up and thinking “Oh my God, that’s Derek Jacobi
with his dog!” So, I thought I should ask him to sit for me,
like Stuart would have done. And Sir Derek said “Well, if
you write me a letter to this stage door, I’ll be in touch.”
Your new retrospective, GAZE, features your 2007 portrait
of Baroness Thatcher. How did that come about?
I was at the opera, doing charcoal sketches. I looked
around and saw this very grand looking lady wearing
purple surrounded by protection officers. Realising it was
Margaret Thatcher, I wrote a note, wiped the charcoal
off my hands and handed it to the protection officer.
He couldn’t pass on the note, so I went back to my seat.
I happened to meet my friend [the ITN journalist] Frank
Miles for lunch the next day and he said, “how dare they
so slight you!” He sent a letter on my behalf and called in
a favour. Three days later they agreed to the sitting.
What was she like in person?
Not what I expected at all. I’m still not sympathetic to her
politics, but I was very surprised by how much I liked her
as a person. When she saw the finished piece she said,
“It’s very fierce.” And I replied, “Yes, Lady Thatcher, but
sometimes we ladies do have to be a little fierce to get
our own way.” She paused and said, “Very true.”When did you start working with the author Neil Gaiman?
I sketched him for a charity auction and I asked if he’d ever
had his portrait painted. He had a beard when I first started
painting him but then shaved it off. I thought my first
painting hadn’t quite captured Neil so I asked if he would
grow the beard again. Very obligingly he did.How did you then become artist-in-residence on the
set of the TV adaptation of Gaiman’s Good Omens?
I’ve been artist-in-residence on lots of film sets. During my
very brief “career” as a jogger, I stumbled across a Woody
Allen film set. I ended up talking to the cinematographer
and being invited to come and sketch on set.
With Good Omens, I volunteered my services and was
invited along. I managed to finagle sittings with Michael
Sheen and David Tennant. When you’re artist-in-residence,
you’re scrabbling around for whatever you can get.
Nothing’s ever fallen in my lap, I’ve always seen something
and gone for it. There no Plan B so I’ve got to make this work.How does it feel to have a major retrospective already?
It’s a great honour but it’s a weirdly existential experience
because it entails going through all my old archives. I’m
going to find it incredibly strange when the paintings are
all on the wall, as you don’t usually see them all together.Is there a piece you’re most excited to exhibit?
It’s going to be amazing to have my Last Supper altarpiece
in the show and to see it again – I’ve only seen it once or
twice since it was installed at St George’s Church in
Nailsworth in the Cotswolds. I won’t be satisfied until
there’s a little brown road sign directing people towards it.
GAZE: A Retrospective of Portraits by Lorna May Wadsworth
runs until 15 February 2020 at the Graves Gallery, Sheffield.
http://www.lornamaywadsworth.com PHOTO BY JENNY LEWIS FORHACKNEY STUDIOS, PUBLISHED BY HOXTON MINI PRESS