Flocking to new technology

I was very pleased with the drawing. It really did look like me. My wife liked it too. It will be really interesting to see the finished painting,” says Philip.

“It was quite daunting at first, the thought of sitting for about three hours on one day and then the same again the next day. But as long as I could get up every 45 minutes or so and move about and make myself a cup of tea it was fine.

“Helen is a very nice lady. I enjoyed talking to her. We had a lot to talk about, all sorts of things. I found it very relaxing. I was so relaxed in fact that once or twice I found myself almost falling asleep!

“I would recommend anyone to sit for a portrait by Helen. It is well worth putting the time aside. It is a very enjoyable experience.”

Helen says: “Some elements took a while on this portrait, and I had to reimagine the sitting slightly, to avoid some distracting sunlight behind Philip. There was one part though - Philip’s legs – that I painted in a 20-minute burst, and they looked so powerful and so three dimensional I refused to touch them after that.

“I remember asking Philip, rather sheepishly, if he ever listened to farming drama The Archers on Radio 4 and he laughed and said yes. I’d always wondered if farmers listened to it!”

Read about Philip’s reaction when faced with the finished portrait for the first time.

<center><b>Click on the pictures below to see the completed portraits:</b></center>