What on Earth do you say at an exhibition launch?

Some people love public speaking. They approach it with a sort of swagger. And others hate it so much they come out in a cold sweat. I’m somewhere in between. I was taught to do it at school but I don’t do it often enough to feel really confident.

I find the best thing is not to practice but to have a starting point, a trail, and to take it from there. So, at the opening of my latest exhibition, at Galerie Kolff near Leiden, NL, I just thought of a few phrases I wanted to include:

What is a portrait?

A portrait is an act of love.

A portrait is an act of connection.

It helped that I was surrounded by paintings of people I love.

Painting a real woman

For international women’s day I wanted to share this work in progress. I’ve known Sally for a long time. She is part of our walking group. So, here she is, dressed for a winter walk; clear eyed, intelligent and beautiful.

Playing with the language of paint

Conversations about painting (with non-artists) have a predictable pattern:

‘Oh you’re so talented!’

‘Thank you,’ I say modestly.

‘I could never learn how to paint’

‘Well no’, I think but do not say. ‘You can never learn how to paint unless you, well, paint’

I remember reading about an experiment about learning. The subjects were all adults and they had been asked to learn how to throw pots. One group was asked to make one or two perfect pots and focus on making them as good as possible. The other group was asked to just throw as many pots as possible and not worry about the quality. So, who made the best pots? The second group of course.

About a month ago I had my first experience of Covid. I was not very ill but I had a fever and did a lot of coughing (which has only just finished). After this came to an end I had a moment of clarity. I thought: Instead of trying to create a perfect portrait, I should just try to paint as many as possible. This is the third one I’ve started in a week (fourth tomorrow). Some of them are commissions and some just working from photos I’ve taken. It feels very liberating

Just playing with the language of paint.

Colour in the Shadows

Back to the ruined church. I want to explore, in a more formal way, the light, shade and colour in the doorway motif. Most people like bright, light colours but I’m always interested in the colours in the shadows. The doorway, with the stones and plants behind it gives me a chance to look into these deeper, earthier shades.

Portrait in a Ruined Church

For some time I have wanted to do another portrait of my husband Cyril. This is partly because he has changed quite a lot. There is a new beard, for instance. But, also, because I wanted to use an environment in the picture to say something important about him. I had a lot of ideas then just stumbled across the ideal place, on holiday in Wales. This is the ruined church of St Mary’s at Tintern. The combination of a very traditional church and nature invading it seemed perfect. Here he is looking out on the Wye Valley.

The picture above was done as a studio study. But I also did a couple of small sketches sitting in the church.

sketch of Cyril in a ruined church

Doorway in St Mary’s church Tintern