PAINTING AND ME

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I've always loved painting, and have spent my life doing it. My father was a painter,

a lover of oils and watercolours, and would regularly take his children out sketching in the parks, harbours, and other areas of New York City, paint trays and brushes packed by each of us into canvas bags slung on our backs. He also took us to many of its great museums, walking us around inside them until our little legs ached. These trips left a deep impression on me, and I inherited his love for painting, making it an enduring focus of both my easel art and illustration.

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An artist friend of mine once described herself to me as "desperate to paint". I can safely say that I share this same desperation, and it has lead me on the lifelong pursuit to paint as often as possible, and the unrelenting efforts of  painting friends and models in my formative years has been rewarded with portrait commissions in mid career. My passion for portrait painting also lead me to television appearances in 2013 on BBC Spotlight, and in 2023 on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. 

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My other painting pursuits lie in murals, still life and landscape, and I try to bring to these the same qualities that I bring to my paintings of people: a convincing truthfulness, and a strong sense of personality, regardless of the subject.

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