The Queen of Hearts

Model: Lydia

For weeks I'd been moaning about the fact that it seemed that all the models we got to work with were young, waifer-thin waifs and that my portfolio was beginning to look like a teen porn rag. Where were the real women with real bodies?

Warm Up Sketches

Lydia arrived in the chilly embers of January. She was "traditionally built" as Mma Ramotswe might say – large, but with a gravity-defying, confounding presence that was both refined and delicate...

Preparatory Sketch

I wasn't sure how to paint her at first. She seemed almost regal...

I decided to make her the Queen of Hearts.

I painted directly onto some tough-as-old-boots stencil card which gave a very pleasing texture and depth; however it was restrictive in terms of correction - once I established the shape there was really no going back. I painted her face too long – she was much prettier than she appears in this painting (see the preparatory sketch) – but all in all I was quite happy with the result.