Sir Mark Weinberg
16 x 12in (40cm x 30cm)
Sir Mark is very bright and very gentle. I love painting people who are cleverer than me, I find their thinking very inspiring and what is so interesting it that you can really see the intelligence in these people’s eyes.
As all the interest in such a close portrait is concentrated on the head and the hand I have used a huge variety of skin colours, and painted a neutral background to hold them. I wanted this to be a lively portrait which is a challenge in something so specific; I achieved this with by suggesting movement between the head and the hand and by making a strong diagonal slant across them.
Sir Mark said I was the only painter ever to have got his eyes right.
Rachel Hampson
32.5 x 20.5in (52 x 83 cm)
There is a tradition in the Hampson family of the husbands commissioning portraits of their wives and I was really pleased that Harry saw my work in an article in a magazine and asked me to paint Rachel; he said he had been looking for the right portrait painter for a long time.
It’s a beautiful portrait I’m really proud of it.
I feel a bit silly about quoting what people have said about their portraits but it makes sense to let you know that they are appreciated. This is from Harry’s e mail to me... “Once again congratulations. We are both really really happy with the portrait that you have done of Rachel. You have captured her brilliantly.”
Shane Warne
46 x 30 in (117 x 76 cm) 2005
This was an incredibly exciting commission that put my work firmly into the
public eye. It also took me deep into the world of Cricket and indeed to the other
side of the world.
Having already painted David Cull, the Real Tennis Professional
for Marylebone Cricket Club, I was entrusted with their big, high profile commission
of 2005, to hang at Lord’s. Shane Warne was considered such an important
player that he was chosen to be depicted while still playing the game at the highest
level.
Marylebone Cricket Club, Shane and I launched the portrait in The
Long Room at Lord’s in June 2005 to huge press acclaim. The image was reproduced
in every single national UK newspaper and went all over the world in TV and press
items. I went to Australia in January 2006 to sign a series of limited edition
prints of the portrait with Shane, and was given the most wonderful hospitality
by the Australian Cricket Board. This commission has been so much fun and I am
very grateful to everyone at Marylebone Cricket Club who was part of it. They
have been fabulous clients and I have made some great friendships.
The moment I heard that I was to paint him I had a very strong idea of how the
portrait should be. I knew his reputation as a formidable and strategic bowler
and saw the portrait as if from the batsman’s point of view. I depicted
the sun directly overhead, giving me powerful shadows and hooded eyes so that
there was a feeling of ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’. This sense of
menace would instil such trepidation in the batsman that the wicket would be psychologically
lost before Shane had even bowled.
By cropping the image slightly tighter on the left, I was able
to give the feeling of movement as if Shane is actually striding towards us, moving
from side to side in of our field of vision, and not static within the centre
of it. Other aspects worked beautifully in my favour. The contrast of the red
ball against the green grass was powerful and the mowing stripes in the pitch
leading us into the centre of the figure help to make this a very strong and striking
work.
Initially I took some photographs of Shane as I had visualised the portrait, at The Rose Bowl, home ground of Hampshire Cricket Club where Shane was captain. Then once I had made a good start he visited my studio in Fulham a couple of times. I then went back to the Rose Bowl and painted Shane’s final sitting with the portrait propped up against the pegs in the players’ changing room. Shane himself was a delightful man and I think we both enjoyed the experience of making his portrait.
The Earl of Dartmouth
30 x 42 in (76 x 107 cm) 2006
William Dartmouth commissioned me to paint his portrait to join the collection of family portraits. I intended that it should have both a traditional and a contemporary feel so as to sit happily with the ancestors and yet also to be of this time. William is supported in this painting by things that pertain to him, his Piranesi prints collected in his youth and the head of Socrates given to him by his grandmother.
I enjoyed painting the embroidery on the sofa in particular, I almost had to put myself into a trance of concentration to get the patterns to not only look as if they were laying in the right directions but that the fabric was stretched over upholstery; it was exhausting to paint but I find it exhilarating to be so challenged and love being so deeply absorbed by the work.
I’m interested by the way the patterns contribute to the work and have used them more in my recent paintings; somehow they are visually very satisfying because even though the patterns are complicated they are not cluttered in any way. Perhaps I am getting away with it because my pallet of colours has become incredibly simple, I now use only seven colours and black and white. This is probably going to be my pallet for the rest of my painting life and it has taken until now to find and refine 'my' colours.
Olivia Williams
30 x 22in (76 x 56 cm)
Olivia is 21 and her Dad commissioned this portrait, I love the idea that here she will always be 21.
And I really love this painting, Olivia is soft and funny and bright and beautiful and I feel I’ve got all this. I set her slightly to the left and that’s what is giving the calm peacefulness to this work, it’s as if we have just caught her out of the corner of our eye as she, unaware of us, looks at something out of the picture.
OJ Williams, Olivia’s father said when he saw the final painting “very, very good and that’s high praise indeed from me,... in fact it’s first class “.
Sir William Castell
30 x 42 in (76 x 107 cm) 2004
Lady Castell (Renice) asked me to paint Sir William. It felt right to paint his portrait as a landscape format so that I could show the expanse of his strength and confidence in the gestures of his arms and the way he holds himself.
William is a man of huge intelligence and personality who has had an extensive career as Chief Executive of Amersham International, then as Vice Chairmen to the board of GE. He is Chairman of the Wellcome Trust and now a non-executive director of BP.
But he has a sense
of fun, modesty and enthusiasm that I find inspiring. I was touched
that he took a great deal of time and patience to explain to me the intricacies
of the molecular research that Amersham were doing, which was fascinating. I feel
very privileged to know such a great man.
Bill Cash MP
32 x 25 in (82 x 62 cm) 2008
William Cash commissioned me to paint his father Bill Cash in recognition of his 25 years in Parliament. Bill has been very involved with the Lisbon Treaty so I painted him with the European Union (Amendment) Bill against the famous green benches of the House of Commons Debating Chamber. I was lucky with the colour of these benches as I love to use cool greens and blues in my backgrounds making a great a contrast to the warm yellows and reds of flesh.
Bill was fascinating to paint, he is incredibly bright and we talked about everything under the sun. My treat was to be given lunch in the House of Commons dining room, where we were locked deep into conversation about the debates that were happening only a few yards away in the chamber that were changing British history.
Bill and Jeanne Muirhead 30x48ins, 76x120cm
This portrait came about in an interesting way. Bill asked me to paint a portrait of Jeanne from an existing photograph as a surprise for her, but I wasn’t too keen, partly because I thought my own vision might be compromised by painting from a photograph that I didn’t take and also because it might be a bit of a shock for Jeanne to be given a portrait of herself she knew nothing about.
But when Bill showed me their Australian holiday photographs I changed my mind, I just loved the shape and the closeness of them together in this pose and I persuaded Bill to let me include him in the portrait. The original photograph was taken in front of a garage so I chose to set them amongst Gum trees on Kangaroo Island in this long thin landscape format. Bill came to the studio for a couple of sittings and was also able to let me know that I was in track with Jeanne.
A breakthrough for me, it was fun to paint a landscape and I never would have thought to paint people wearing sunglasses or in light as strong as this. It’s a funky portrait and Jeanne loves it.
Lord Gillford
30 x 24 in (76 x 61 cm) 2007
Paddy Gillford is a fun and dynamic man with a lot of energy and always bubbling with ideas. I had painted his wife Cara previously and was so pleased when he asked me to paint him too.
They have the most wonderful garden with these strangely triangular trees and I wanted to include them. Paddy lost a finger in a shooting accident when he was young this is an important (missing) part of him and I had to paint the hole where the finger should be in solid black, to make the point that it actually is not there.
John Studzinski CBE
16 x 10 in (41 x 25 cm) 2006
Head and shoulder portraits are lovely; a different kind of portraiture and with the only the face to portray a whole personality, I can be very sensitive with the expression . I painted John against the light with his face in shadow, it’s unusual but I feel it has really worked and I have been able to portray some of the sweetness and complexity of this man.
Jack, Harry and Katie Foreman
48 x 30 in(122 x 76 cm) 2007
This portrait was as surprise present from Charlie the children’s father to their mother Felicia. Charlie and I gave no explanation to the children as to why I was there taking photographs of them in their garden. They were really good fun and very lively. They didn’t actually pose like this I put the composition together from several photographs and drawings. I love the way they are all at different levels with their arms making a circle in the middle of the painting. And again as with all my group portraits it is about relationships, two brothers, and big brother and his little sister.
We felt that a visit to the studio by the children for a sitting would have been a secret too exciting for them to keep. So I turned up at their house for tea a few weeks later whilst I was actually painting the portrait and was able to observe them and see where I was with their faces.
The portrait was a complete surprise for Felicia and Charlie told me afterwards that the whole family loved it and sat in front of it for hours.
Joe Rush
26 x 30 in (66 x 76 cm) 2008
My brother Joe, the ‘Mutoid Waste’ sculptor. Joe is an amazing man, famous for his huge shows at the Glastonbury, the Japanese Mount Fuji rock festivals and the Burning Man in Nevada, USA. I think that his sculptures made from found metals, cars, motorbikes, tanks and even a MiG fighter jet are genius.
I painted this portrait as a present for our mother, Caroline Lucas. It was such a great feeling to actually own a portrait of a loved one that I could hardly bare to let it leave the studio. Mum was so delighted that I am really glad I took the time out to paint it.
I now have the personal experience of knowing how these portraits become more special over time. It is now a family heirloom and will go from Mum to Joe, to Joe’s sons and on and on in the family. It’s a lovely thought. My brother Sam is next as a present for our dad, Peter Rush.
Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa
16 x 12 in (41 x 30 cm) 2007
The son of the King of Bahrain. This portrait was asked for by a friend of the King as a gift for his Majesty.
Sir Paul Nurse
30 x 44 in (76 x 112 cm) 2002
Sir Paul Nurse received a Nobel Prize for his work in cancer research and when I painted him was the head of Cancer Research UK; he is now in New York as President of Rockefeller University.
As the best part of my job is the people I meet and what they impart to me, it was such a treat to talk with Paul. He really was just too busy to come to my studio for my quick ‘check I’m on track’ painting sessions that I combine with working from my reference photographs and drawings, so I took the painting to him at Cancer Research. He came rushing into his office from his laboratory and threw himself onto the sofa, legs swinging, to talk to me. He was so much fun, really lively and energetic and I wanted to capture this quality. I was inspired by the blue ‘cancer research’ colouring of the surrounding décor and used it to set up a brilliant contrast to the warmth of the colours in his face and to give the painting some of the vibrancy of the man himself.
Couple with their dog
32 x 34 in (82 x 86 cm) 2008
This couple preferred not to be named, but the dog is called Ollie.
It was a lovely idea it was to paint them together. They were sitting like this with Ollie as I talked to them, and it seemed so natural, really conveying the feeling of a loving relationship.
Harriet Kildahl
24 x 18 in (61 x 46 cm) 2007
Harriet is the daughter of Jane and Simon Kildahl and she is a sweetheart, she was fabulous when I went to take my reference photographs and we had a lovely, funny morning being girls together and she sent me flowers after one of her sittings. The portrait was a big surprise for her Dad’s birthday and we managed to put together a strategic plan so that he didn’t get a squeak of it beforehand.
Elie Ishag
22 x 26 in (56 x 66 cm) 2007
Elie is a wise and thoughtful man he uses his hands in an expressive way, which is why I made them so prominent. I really like the colours in this portrait and the floral chair, which was fun to paint. I am enjoying putting patterns into the work. It can be quite complicated to work out as the structure and shape of whatever the pattern is covering has to be represented by the way that the design lays, but I think it makes the portrait more interesting and supports the figure.
Ella & Poppy
40 x 42 in (102 x 107 cm) 2007
Ella and Poppy are the daughters of my friend Dorothy Cory-Wright and this portrait is a present for their Grandmother. They are just at that transition between child and adulthood, a treasure to capture in a portrait.
When I arrived to take my reference photographs the girls were a bit grumpy at being dragged out of bed but we soon got really into it and searched around the house for the perfect setting; We found all these fabulous cushions in the attic.
Painting children and teenagers in groups works beautifully and I love the way one body affects another as they entwine themselves. Contrasts and balances are very important in my work and by putting the girls into one corner with all the details, the interest is thrown into that corner and emphasises their closeness.
Lady Gillford
22 x 34 in (56 x 86 cm) 2005
Cara Gillford is a talented interior designer and surrounds herself with beauty, these fresh colours are hers and very lovely; all I had to do was place her in them.
Oliver Stocken
40 x 26 in (102 x 66 cm) 2005
Oliver is the Treasurer of MCC and also Chairman of The Natural History Museum. He commissioned this portrait as a present for his family. It was an absolutely beautiful day when I went to take my reference photographs of Oliver. He picked me up from the station in this fabulous car, a 1937 Derby Bentley, and as we drove to his family home beneath leafy canopies with strong sun light shafting through and dappling the car with light, an idea formed in my head. I decided I wanted to paint Oliver with his car but it was important that it didn’t become more dominant than Oliver. I thought that by cropping through the car and making it into a prop more than a feature, and by using the same greens in the car body as in the surrounding foliage, with the splattered light reflecting on it and breaking up the solidity, it would blend it into the background. This has worked well and the car is a great bonus, making the portrait very personal - it’s Oliver’s car and says a lot about him and it’s a beautiful thing in its own right.
The Children of Nancy and Mark Horton
Clockwise:
Christina, Tatiana, Iona, Ritchie and Robbie.
7ft. x 6ft 6 in (214cm x 198cm) 2006
This portrait was a surprise birthday present from Nancy to Mark.
I loved painting these siblings and fell in love with each of them
as I worked. Painting on this scale was so exhilarating - it allowed me to use
big, loose brushstrokes and to paint very directly.
I felt it was important that everyone was represented not only with equal prominence but also as the individuals they are, taking up their own space with their own intrinsic body stances but working together as a group. As with all of my work, the portrait is carefully designed with a lot of creative thought given to shape, weight, colour and balance so that the space is filled in an interesting, uncomplicated and visually satisfying way by the whole form as well as the individuals within it
Michael Buerk
32 x 22 in (81 x 56 cm) 2004
Michael asked me to paint him as a present for his family and it was a treat
for me because he had read the Nine O’clock News on the BBC for 20 years
and his face was as familiar to me as if he had been a lifelong friend… in
fact, I always felt that he was. The painting sessions were fascinating with the
depth of conversation almost reducing me to tears when he talked with such sensitivity
of some of the horrors he had witnessed as a BBC journalist in Ethiopia when he
brought the world’s attention to the famine in 1984. We made a short film
of one of the painting sessions, which was enormous fun.
You can see a clip of the film is shown
in the films section of this website or by clicking here.
Chris Hughes
40 x 30 in (102 x 76 cm) 2005
Caroyn Hughes commissioned me to paint Chris as a birthday present for him. I really liked this mirror in the Hughes’s home and I saw that his reflection in it would make the portrait very interesting with the frame of the portrait holding both Chris and his mirror image within. There was also something very special about the red braces and the way they changed direction in the reflection. However, the frame was incredibly difficult to paint, with the angles of the leaves going off all over the place. It took me a long time to get it to work with the reflection and to look flat on the wall – longer, in fact, than it took me to paint Chris himself. However, it is always worth the struggle for the feeling I have when I finally get it right.
Ian Philion
14 x 14 in (36 x 36 cm) 2003
I enjoy painting these small portraits as much as the big ones and I love them being so quick. I remember this was a bit of a breakthrough portrait; I was braver with colour and looser with my brush-strokes and loved the freshness and dynamism that resulted. These set a precedent for all the work that followed.
Dudley Sutton
18 x 12 in (46 x 31 cm) 2005
The actor and poet Dudley Sutton is one of my dearest friends. I love his face and I painted this portrait as a present for him. He is depicted reading his poem, ‘The Ballard of The Two Tone Shoes’ which is my second favourite of his works - my favourite is entitled ‘ I have a crush on Fanny Rush’ (dudleysutton.com)
Phoebe Hollond
40 x 28 in (102 x 71 cm) 2003
Phoebe is the daughter of my friends Beatrice and James Hollond. It was the first summer in their Dorset house and Phoebe and I went for a walk and found this path where the grass was so overgrown that we could barely open the gate. It felt very significant to have Phoebe at the gate like this with her hands draped so softly on it. She was just at that fleeting stage at the end of her childhood and before she became a young woman; in fact, she changed so quickly after this that we really had only just caught it. This is a lovely time in their lives to paint children because it is wonderful to remember them at this age as they grow up.
Lady Castell
42 x 30 in (107 x 76 cm) 2004
Renice is a lovely woman, incredibly wise and down to earth.
While I was painting his portrait, Sir William commissioned me to paint Renice, so I made her portrait the same size, but as a long vertical format to balance William’s long horizontal. I used the same palette of colours so the portraits would look good hanging together. I was lucky that Renice has such a good figure because this is a demanding pose.
Ned Swan
40 x 30 in (102 x 76 cm) 2002
Ned Swan is an American writer and a very tall man, so I made his portrait tall and thin to portray this height.
Ned reminds me of the wholesome, easy-going, sensitive men played by Cary Grant in Hollywood movies.
Stephan Colbeck
22 x 14 in (56 x 36 cm) 2004
Stephan is a most interesting man with an enormous experience of life. Everything is in a face and I learn so much from my subjects, not only by talking to them but also coming to know them intrinsically, as if by osmosis through studying their faces so intensely as I paint them. He was a treat to paint, a tough South African he told me that in his youth he used to hammer nails into wood with his fists.
Sir Dennis Landau
36 x 24 in (92 x 61 cm) 2003
Lady Landau (Pamela) and I share the same hairdresser and it was through him that I met and was commissioned by Pamela to paint Sir Dennis. Dennis has a brilliantly dry sense of humour and I captured this in his wry smile. He was president of Lancashire Cricket Club and took a keen interest while I was painting the Shane Warne portrait for Marylebone Cricket Club; I love the coincidence that our initial connection was not through cricket but through Lady Pamela’s and my hairdresser.
David Cull
40 x 26 in (102 x 66 cm) 2003
David was the Real Tennis Coach at the Marylebone Cricket Club and this was my first commission for them.
I love painting sportsmen because I am able to capture movement and by showing exactly where the power is being deployed in the muscles I can indicate what the next action will be.
William and Jamie
30 x 42 in (77 x 107 cm) 2002
When Ann Macalpine-Leny commissioned me to paint her boys, William was just about to go off to boarding school and was terribly excited. Jamie was soon to follow him. Ann and I knew this transient time at the end of childhood is very precious, and we just caught it.
The thing I love when painting more than one person in a portrait is the way that they affect each other and I am able to show personalities and individualities within relationships.
Petronella and Oz
36 x 30 in (92 x 76 cm) 2004
This fabulous looking mother and son were lovely to paint and it captures an important time in their lives. I wanted to show their closeness in a subtle way and caught it almost incidentally when their hands became beautifully entwined.
Elizabeth Philion
36 x 48 in (92 x 122 cm) 2002
Elizabeth is a dear friend and I was so pleased to be asked to paint her, not least because she is very discerning and is herself a true artist in transforming houses, undertaking huge building projects and designing the whole interiors down to the teaspoons with breathtaking skill and foresight. I wanted to paint her surrounded by the beautiful textures and colours that are intrinsic to her style. This it my father, the artist Peter Rush’s favourite of my portraits.
Vicky, Jessica and Ella
38 x 44 in (96 x 112 cm) 2000
These three are a young mother and daughters and they are very close to each other. I chose a very limited palette with basically just two colours because I wanted to capture the softness and delicacy of this very feminine trio.
Rovianne Matovu
18 x 16 in (46 x 40 cm)
Rovianne’s godfather commissioned me to paint her and this is one of my favourite earlier portraits. She was just about to leave London to live and work in Uganda, somewhere she had not been for many years and it was a very significant time to paint her.
Gerry Pack
40 x 26 in (102 x 66 cm) 2004
I was commission to paint Gerry by Carole his wife as a 50th birthday present, a significant time in a man’s life and a great time to be painted, with enough maturity in his face but before he becomes elderly. It’s a good stage for his family and descendants to remember him. Gerry is a keen horseman so I painted him outside his stables.