The older face in art should be proud and dignified. 

Artist Statement Portraits

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This is my current body of work which aims to put old age into the spotlight with a group of paintings which unashamedly shows ageing flesh in both faces and hands. By using photography to help me get closer to my family and friends than is normal I have produced a series of paintings which means the viewer will also be closer to ageing flesh than they may be comfortable with. To compound these feelings all the sitters will be looking at the viewer as they themselves are looking at the paintings which will open up a dialogue which some people may find unsettling as they face their own ageing process.

My intention is to show that elderly people have as much right to be on gallery walls as the young and beautiful we often see. I have painted them in an honest and direct way with no effort to make them anything other than what they are. My painting style is such that from a distance the work is quite realistic but as you get nearer to them this realism breaks down and they become more painterly and less real. Ageing can work the same. Things long ago become more real and have more clarity and the now is more bewildering and less understandable. By painting people I know and love there is a very personal connection which will come across to the people seeing the paintings especially as some of them are painted on a large scale.