Sue Tilley

Q: Please introduce yourself to our readers.

A: My name is Sue Tilley, I’m 61 and have lived in St.Leonards on Sea for the last couple of years, before that I lived in London.

Q: What did you do prior to becoming the “muse of Lucian Freud”?

A: I worked in a Job centre for 37 years and also worked on the door in several London nightclubs, including the legendary Taboo and Wag clubs.

Q: Please can you inform the readers how you were introduced to Lucian Freud?

A: My best friend was Leigh Bowery and he was already working for Lucian. As he had been introduced to him by one of our friends, who had gone to university with one of Lucian’s daughters, Leigh decided it would be good for me to sit for him as well, so he put the idea into Lucian’s head.

Q: What was your first impressions?

A: I was petrified of him as Leigh had exaggerated to me how scary he was.

Q: Could you explain how generally a sitting would go, did Lucian have a similar process he would go through, or was it a complete different experience each time?

A: I would arrive at about 7.30am after a quick drive down The Westway. Lucian would be sitting at the kitchen table and we’d have a quick chat and look at the papers. He used to get 5 a day and there was a huge heap of old newspapers in the kitchen. Then I’d go and lie on the sofa for about 90 minutes before I had a break. The morning would then continue until lunchtime when Lucian would take me to a fancy restaurant, or cook me a delicious meal himself, after which I would go back to sitting for him until approximately 3pm before going home. Sometimes there were callers or deliveries which gave me extra breaks.

Q: Throughout this process did you learn anything that you could share with aspiring portrait/ figurative artists that could help them?

A: Look, look and look.....don’t be scared to make drastic changes if the picture isn’t going right.

Q: Would you talk to one another during the sitting, if so what topics of conversations would you discuss?

A: Yes we would chat all the time ...about everything under the sun... Lucian loved a gossip which suited me fine. My favourite thing was when he told me about his adventures when he was young .... driving around with Cecil Beaton and Marlene Dietrich, meeting Judy Garland, drinking, gambling and womanising.

Q: How long was each sitting?

A: The night sitting was from about 7pm to 1am and day sitting about 7-30am to 3pm. It did however, depended on the time of year and the light so sessions were a bit shorter in winter.

Q: Did you learn anything that you felt was interesting about Lucian?

A: Everything about Lucian was interesting. He was a special sort of person with a very changeable personality, which is a trait that I love in people. It was wonderful to get to know a great artist so well.

Q: What did you learn about yourself from the process?

A: That I am reliable and that I can sit still for long periods of time (very useful when flying or having an eye operation which I had in December 2018)

Q: Did you get an insight into Lucian’s life outside of painting?

A: Yes but really at this stage in his life he just wanted to paint.... and he painted 7 days a week at least 14 hours a day. He would have several paintings on the go with a stream of sitters passing through his studio. He always had a self portrait to work on in case a model couldn’t turn up, which drove him mad however, he would usually go out for lunch taking his model with him.

He had a lot of children and he got to spend time with them by using them as models. He rarely went abroad but if he had to, he would only stay a day as he couldn’t bear to be away from his work. Many people seem to have the impression that he was a heavy drinker but he wasn’t at all. He would maybe share a half bottle of champagne but that was about it.

Q: I have heard stories about Lucian’s eyes during sittings. Apparently, they would widen and really focus on you. Please could you explain this?

A: They really did... it was a bit scary when you looked at him and his eyes were bulging, trying to take in as much information as possible. He worked with the canvas facing you, so he had to remember what to paint when he turned round to put the brushstrokes on. He couldn’t really paint from behind the canvas as they were so huge he wouldn’t have been able to see anything.

Q: What was your first reaction to seeing the completed artworks, were you honest with him?

A: I saw them from beginning to end as the canvas was facing me, so it was no big surprise. I told him what I liked and what I didn’t like.

Q: What was Lucian’s thoughts, was he satisfied with the pieces?

A: When he was nearing the end he would invite his good friend Frank Auerbach round to give his opinion and then he might change something. He rushed to finish “Evening in the Studio” as I was going on holiday and he hated tans, when I returned home, I had to go back a couple of times as he had decided that the arm wasn’t in quite the right place. He didn’t paint me again for a year, as he wanted my tan to disappear completely.

Q: Did you keep in contact after?

A: For a bit but once he had finished painting you he moved on to his new models and he didn’t really have much time for socialising.

Q: Did you get to keep anything from the experience?

A: Lucian gave me some etchings but I sold them when I was hard up.... I’m not a great one for possessions so I didn’t mind. The main thing that I got to keep was the actual experience... how lucky I was to spend so much time with such a great and interesting painter.

Q: Has this changed your life?

A: It really has....since the day “Benefit Supervisor Sleeping” sold for that record amount, my life hasn’t been the same. It wasn’t exactly boring before but it’s gone up a couple of notches. I do a bit of TV work, which I always find amusing, I give talks, help students and generally have a good time. Then when I started painting I got given a big show really quickly, which I’m sure wouldn’t have happened before.

Q: Have you modelled for anyone else?

A: I did some photographic work with Sam Taylor Johnson which ended up being nominated for the Turner Prize and was shown in the Hayward Gallery and Tate Britain. I also did a big photographic project with a French artist called Jacques Bosser. I sometimes model (dressed) for art classes.

ME AFTER MATISSE WITH MISSING BREAST ( I HAD CANCER)

Q: If you could have been a model for any other artist, who would you choose?

A: Matisse, as I love his work and he had a wardrobe full of clothes and jewellery for his models to wear. I also recently interviewed the American artist John Currin for a TV show and he had rails of fabulous lingerie and clothes for his sitters. I’d like to model for one of his saucy paintings. I’m always pleased to see them... I recently did a copy of Benefit Supervisor Sleeping, which was very interesting as I got to study every brushstroke. It’s incredible how much they sell for but I find it sad that public galleries can’t afford them and the people who buy them, usually buy them for their value and not because they love them.

Q: Tells us about your artworks and sketches?

A: I trained to be an art teacher when I left school but I never pursued that career but I still did a bit of drawing. Then about 5 years ago I was asked to give a talk and model for a charity event at the Kids Company. There was another model there called Rui Miguel Leitao Ferreira and we got chatting and since then have been great friends. He is a successful Portuguese artist and he took me under his wing and encouraged me to draw, he bought me some crayons and gave me ideas for sketches. This brought my love for art back and with a lot of practice, my techniques improved although he still loves my first very naïve work the best.

Q: Have you exhibited any of your own work?

A: A friend told The Observer that I was drawing so they wrote a piece about it and a curator and artist called. Marty Thornton offered me a show at his gallery, near The Olympic Park. Luckily I was made redundant from the Job-centre so I found a studio and put on a show. I then had a couple of shows at the quirky Queen Adelaide pub in Bethnal Green. Then I moved to St Leonards on Sea and am currently showing at the Seepray Gallery in Hastings.

I decided that as Lucian wouldn’t paint me with my clothes on, I would put myself in famous paintings and change some of the clothes to mine. I am having another show next July at the New Art Projects Gallery in Hackney.

Q: To summarise what one thing will you remember that would sum up your experience of being Lucian Freud’s model?

A: I remember it all with great affection... but maybe I don’t remember it all as well as I think, as a few years ago there was a small unfinished Lucian painting of me in the Rubens show at The Royal Academy and I can’t even recall him painting it.