JASMIN IN MUM'S BLANKET

This is a portrait of my sister Jasmin.  Our mother had just had a stoke and we drank tea sitting with the gravity of the experience. She is wearing the last blanket made by our mother before she lost her ability to continue making them. Little did I know I would be her main caregiver the last eight years. This painting surprises me every time I see it, bringing back the emotions I saw in that brief moment as my sister looked down. The weight of the world on our shoulders.

This portrait made it through two rounds of selection for the Mall Galleries Royal Society of Portrait Painters show in London. It ultimately did not make the final round but to make it that far was a milestone for me.