Portraits, paintings and drawings
In February 2020 I was contacted by Millfield school who wanted to commission a portrait of the departing headmistress of Millfield Prep. At my first visit to the school, in the Easter holidays, Shirley Shayler, headmistress for 11 years, met me at the front door in her Ugg boots. Immediately likeable, she exuded empathy and … Read more
This portrait is about those lovely relaxed endless sunny days of the summer holidays. Her gorgeous olive skin, fringed denim shorts, ankle bracelet and bare feet sing out the song of summer.
Hetta was not keen to have her portrait painted! Her husband commissioned me to paint her but didn’t inform me of her reluctance until I was about 10 minutes away from their house. With some trepidation as to how I was going to handle this scenario, I arrived laden with all my photography kit and … Read more
About the Sitter Yasmin H was my youngest daughter’s best friend at primary school and a regular and much loved in our house. Even at 7, she was extraordinarily beautiful – olive-skinned, greeny-hazel eyed and wonderful leonine hair; but she was also kind, gentle, serene, warm and loyal. And absurdly talented at whatever she turned her … Read more
Sian de N burst into my life when she turned up for a head and shoulders sitting, bringing her devoted border terrier, Dolly, along for the ride. Sian is one of the most fun and energetic women I have met in years and we hit it off famously and felt like old friends within … Read more
The Story This was a really enjoyable and unusual commission. I was contacted by Helena’s grandfather, Peter back in October, 2014. About 100 years ago, in the early 1900’s, Helena’s great-grandmother, Beatrice Irene, was painted at 7 with her dog, a terrier, by the renowned Edwardian portrait artist Edmond Brock. Three generations later and at … Read more
I had painted Florence’s sister, Isla, a couple of years ago when she was 10. Isla, see below, was a beautiful, relatively shy, dreamy, bookworm brunette. The pose we chose then reflected that and had a gentle serenity about it as she gazed out of the picture. Two years later, in bounced Florence. Completely … Read more
The Idea About 18 months ago, while I was painting the huge portrait of my sister, Antonia Davies, I was visited in my studio by Jilly, a friend of my mother’s who was interested in commissioning a portrait of her then 17 year old granddaughter, Catriona. The Initial Meeting We agreed that it would be … Read more
I have known Olivia since she was 10. She is the older sister of my youngest’s best friend at primary school from some years ago. Always in and out of each other’s houses, our two families were great friends. But since the girls moved on to different secondary schools, our paths hadn’t crossed so much and it … Read more
This is a family of four enchanting Irish children that I have just finished painting – 6 months of work. It was a very interesting and challenging commission with the children’s age ranging is from 11 down to 4 years old. The challenge was to produce 4 individual oil portraits of these highly individual children that had cohesion as a set. … Read more
I had previously done a pastel head and shoulders of both of Bella’s brothers, and that was what was planned for Bella. But when she walked into my studio dressed in an extraordinary and very carefully chosen outfit: party dress with full veil petticoat, favourite sparkly scuffed shoes (one with a bow missing), silver … Read more
A large life-size oil portrait of my beautiful sister, Antonia Davies which I completed at Easter this year. It is quite large at 50 x 50 inches, with the figure being life-size. This was painted at our mother’s house in Somerset. A vase of David Austen roses, a favourite of our mother, to her right … Read more