"I haven't really worked out any great theory about it," she laughs. "But, somewhere, there's a real link with jazz and my kind of drawing. A lot of my best work over the past few years has been of jazz people playing."

The musicians themselves agree. Young jazz stars like Pine and Cleveland Watkiss request her for portraits and sleeve art, just as Britain's Channel Four commissioned Hawthorne's art to enhance programmes like Big World Cafe and Jazz Diary.

But Hawthorne does not confine her investigation of the live moment to music. In addition to commercial work, she also draws weddings, street life and portraits. Thames TV sent her back to Hong Kong, where she spent long days drawing inside the

notorious Walled City. But, whatever the venue, Hawthorne produces work which boasts strong dynamics and a genuine rhythmic impulse.

"The jobs I like the most," she says, "all require reportage, going and drawing people inside their own atmosphere. I love that, I love being inspired by what's happening in front of me."

As with most creators attracted to dancefloor culture,'community' is a word that often recurs when Hawthorne speaks about her work. "One of the interesting things I see now is that Britain is changing its ideas about what 'community' means."

"At college," says Hawthorne, "other students

used to look at my work and say, 'You draw a lot of black people; don't you feel people might think you're racist?'"

"I felt very confused by that and by art directors who looked at my work and said, ''Oh, another woman who's into young black men'. The worst was, when I married Colin, those people started thinking, 'Oh, it's understandable'."

"Luckily a good friend sat me down and said, 'Look, this is Notting Hill and you're drawing the people around you. If someone can't see that, believe me, it's their own problem.' Now, I know that what they don't see is how their country has changed."