(Oil, Charcoal and Acrylic on Plywood 60 x 90cm)
(Framed and ready to hang, overall size 82 x 112cm)
 
This portrait is of the author Penelope Wallace.
 
Penelope has written  a trilogy of books called “Tales from Ragaris”. Penelope is resting her hands on the first of these novels “We do not kill children”.
 
Penelope describes herself as, “a pedantic bibliophile, a sometime lawyer, a not-completely-orthodox Christian, a wishy-washy socialist, a quiet feminist and a compulsive maker of lists.”
 
She is also a lollipop lady, helping the children from Beeston’s Roundhill school to safely cross Park Street. With this portrait I wanted to capture the contrast between Penelope’s writing and her other role guiding children across the road.
 
When I took the photos for this portrait I didn’t realise how hard it would be to achieve the likeness of Penelope. The angle, with the reflected light, made this painting a challenge. It took three weeks to get to a point where I was happy.