Portraits: people and paint
I have strong memories of drawing as a child, and a lot of the things that appealed to me were faces: generally copied from album covers or the covers of books. I wouldn't dream of asking someone to sit for me. From life, I did countless drawings of our family's cat, though, who did sit, lie, sleep, etc., all quite obliviously. Three vivid memories of copied sketches are a portrait of Meril Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman, Oliver asking for more from the film version of the musical and David Bowie from the album Changes. When I started painting I always said I'd never 'do' portraits, but kind of slid into it via camel portraits. Eyes and noses I love doing, mouths sometimes give me trouble. Given that I'm not terribly sociable in real life, I'm surprised how fascinated I am by people: makes me think of the DH Lawrence quote: 'I like people quite well, / At a little distance'. Maybe the painting creates the necessary distance for me, or maybe it closes it.