Join London Drawing Group's Luisa-Maria MacCormack and Lily Holder for part 2 of our two part life modelling special dedicated to the unique creative relationship between Dame Paula Rego and her muse Lila Nunes!

SEE ALSO - PAULA REGO'S DOG WOMEN: LIFE MODELLING SPECIAL

The relationship between an artist and their model is an incredibly special one; art history is littered with tragic and inspiring stories dedicated to it, but there is perhaps no more longstanding creative love affair than that which exists between Dame Paula Rego and her creative partner of over two decades, Lila Nunes.

she sits for me and she sometimes reads stories to me – Portuguese traditional tales – and we think of something to do. Or sometimes I know what I want to do. She adopts poses that are right... she understands what I’m trying to do, she gets it. I might tweak the pose but she’s very good!

Nunes has modelled for Paula, as well as assisting in the studio and becoming a close personal friend, through some of the most famous works of the last twenty years, from the Depression series to the Dog Women series and Dancing Ostriches this class is dedicated to!

This session will see LDG tutor Lily Holder stepping to the other side of the canvas as she takes on the modelling challenge of embodying Lila and Paula's Dancing Ostriches; a series of pastels created by Paula and Lila in the 1990s, characterised by Lila's powerful physicality and inspired by Disney's Fantasia. These works, some of the most arresting images of Rego’s career: nine big ballerina paintings, inspired by Disney’s Fantasia, explore power, femininity, youth, beauty and societal control of female bodies.

‘I had such fun doing them, Buying the costumes in particular, as we knew nothing about ballet.’

The session will be made up of a variety of long and short exercises, and will be led by tutor Luisa Maria MacCormack, who will also be offering insights into Paula's life and works.

To learn more about both our tutor and models work, you can find them both on Instagram at @luisamariamfineart and @lilyholder - we recommend checking them out to get an even better picture of what to expect from this class.

This class is suitable for ALL LEVELS - Think you can only draw a stick man? Perfect.

Everyone is welcome to join this pay-what-you-can class. We suggest a donation of £15, however we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we may continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis whilst also paying our guest tutors and models a sustainable wage.

YOU WILL NEED:

- Paper, we recommend A3 and above to allow for expressive, flowing lines.

- Something to draw with! We love charcoal at LDG but you can also experiment with pencils, pen, soft pastels, oil pastels etc - whatever you have in your home!

ETIQUETTE:

Online Life Drawing is a fairly new medium for us all and our priority is keeping our life models safe and comfortable whilst working online. The majority of our life models will be working semi-clothed, however, occasionally a model may feel more comfortable to perform their job nude. If it is important for you to know this information in advance of the class, please drop us an email. Please note that taking screenshots, recordings, or reference images during class is not permitted or appropriate.

YOU WILL RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AND BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE EVENT VIA YOUR EVENTBRITE "ONLINE EVENT PAGE". WE HAVE ALSO SET UP AN EMAIL WITH THE ZOOM LINK TO ARRIVE IN YOUR INBOX ON THE DAY OF THE CLASS.

This class will be recorded and sent out to all participants an hour after the end of the live class. This recording can be viewed once within seven days.

If you need help with anything please EMAIL us through Eventbrite or directly at londondrawinggroup@gmail.com - Facebook and Instagram messages are easily lost.

And that's it! We're really looking forward to you joining us.

Love,

LDG