Astrid

This is a portrait of a Venezuelan friend. It's painted in oils on linen canvas, and measures 22" x 22".

Astrid was interviewed by Nico as part of a project we had conceived (which hasn't quite worked out yet - wholly through my failing) whereby Nico would interview Latinos living in the UK, and I would try to capture   something of their character in paint. We envisaged having a show where the paintings and interviews would be presented side by side, the one complementing the other.

Of the three people we met, this is the only one that has made it to a finished painting. I abandoned the first painting after several failed attempts, and the mess I had made of it discouraged me to such an extent that the second never made it beyond the interview stage.

Astrid - as she appeared in the interview and is in reality - is a warm and generous person who refuses to be bound by convention: a person living her life by her own rules and values: a person for whom her nationality is a detail rather than an identity. Calm and confident, spiritual and forward-looking, she is open to opportunity and to new ideas. Hopefully all this comes through in the portrait.