Miss Swindon puts heavyweight champ on the canvas

9:01pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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ARTISTIC Miss Swindon has donated a portrait of boxing legend Larry Holmes to a charity auction.

Rebecca Cole was crowned Miss Swindon earlier this year and will compete for the Miss England crown later in the year.

At that competition she will demonstrate her sketching and painting talent, as part of her drive to dazzle the judges.

As a warm-up for that competition, she has painted a portrait of former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes - the Easton Assassin - who defended his title 20 times.

And Rebecca's artwork will go under the hammer at a charity auction tonight, organised by KM Promotions, where Larry Holmes will appear as guest of honour.

"I was asked to do a painting for the boxing academy on Maxwell Street in March," said Rebecca.

"When Keith Mayo of KM Promotions heard I could do this he thought it would be a good idea for me to do a small canvas of Larry Holmes and if it was good enough, it could be auctioned at the charity dinner. So I gave it a go and now it will be going up for auction which is really great.

"I was more than happy to do this as I think it will give me more work to take to the Miss England semi-finals in June. It's also a great way to be involved in the charity event instead of just accepting the invitation as a guest.

"I don't think Mr Holmes is aware of the portrait and I hope he'll be impressed."

Rebecca, who has been sketching and drawing for years, painted the picture from an image of the boxer in his youth.

She said: "If Larry had been sitting in front of me while I had been doing the painting, I think I would've been too nervous to even hold the brush.

"I usually do these as gifts to friends and family. I didn't do art at college or university. It is just a natural talent that I practise as a hobby.

"Hopefully my canvas will get a high bid and that way they will receive half the proceeds from that too. I have no idea how much my canvas will raise; I just hope that someone will like it.

"It's an original painted by Miss Swindon and signed by Larry Holmes, so hopefully it will be interesting to someone.

"Also what I'm really hoping for is that if people like it they might even ask me to do a portrait for them in the future. A lot of hard work has gone into organising the event and I hope it will be a big success."

To find out more about Rebecca and read her blog visit www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/blogs. You can also e-mail her at beckylucole@tiscali.co.uk.