Lucian Freud noted: 'I think a great portrait has to do with the way it is approached ... it is to do with the feeling of individuality, and the intensity of the regard and the focus on the specific'.

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Portraits are important because we first connect with other humans through the face. A painted portrait still has the power to move us. It is a reinvention of another person. The conveying of character in a painted portrait is specific and dynamic, capturing a person's indefinable essence rather than creating a mirror image. No one has just one face; it is constantly changing according to angle, mood, lighting and the ageing process. Painting is a slow process which produces a different character from the medium of photography. The painted portrait endures. Portrait painting is quite an intimate affair, but it is much more than recording likeness. It provides insight to personality and psychology.

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Between the years 2012 to 2015 I had given myself over to paint, and in particular to portraits. These portraits, painted from photographs, rather than life, fall into two groups: the anonymous and the famous. Through painting these portraits, it was usually much more than creating a likeness, but rather the transformation process that took place in my own psyche and endeavouring to convey this through the work.