Artwork
Portraits for me, whether those of living people or of flowers, fruits or vegetables, show the preciousness of life and the passing of time. Part of my exploration involves linking a person’s attribute with their portrait, in the same way that saints in medieval art were identified by their attributes. Recently I have started using stone paper for my portraits, along with 2B, 2H, and HB pencils, creating a smoother, more intimate connection to the portrait. I am also exploring tinted charcoal paints. This shift has prompted me to reflect on how these elements—stone paper, lead pencils, and charcoal paint— forge a connection between a person, the earth, and the landscape
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Portraits
Ahmed M. Abul Ella with ‘Scribe’ hieroglyph
Karst recycled stone paper 240 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B, 2H, and HB pencils and Permanent Rose watercolour paint and Diamine Onyx Black pen ink. June 2024.
Ahmed M. Abul Ella was our Egyptian guide on the ‘Sacred Landscapes of Luxor and Abydos’ Kemet Klub tour (25 March – 1 April 2024) led by Bernadette Brady. A man with a great depth of knowledge and enormous passion for Pharaonic Egypt, he is the author of ‘Prophets & Pharaohs. Egypt and The Old Testament: Coalescing Facts and Faith’ and ‘By Way of Accident’ and offers field training for Egyptian guides. We all admired his endless energy and wonderful humour, but his attribute could only be the hieroglyph for ‘scribe’.
Ysha De Donna with books
Aquarelle cold-pressed watercolour paper 300 gsm rough side, 297 x 420 mm, 2B, 2H, and HB pencils. May 2024.
Ysha De Donna is a wordsmith. She practiced for many years as an acupuncturist and was one of the first westerners to study advanced acupuncture at a hospital in Nanjing in 1985. On her return she co-wrote ‘Pulses and Impulses A Practitioner’s Guide to a Unique New Pulse Diagnosis Technique’, published by Thorsons, a book on traditional Chinese medical diagnostic techniques. She has written flash fiction, novels, and poetry, and her poem ‘Thinking of Hercules’ was read at Australian Rules football legend Ron Barassi’s funeral on 10 November 2023. Her attribute can only be the book.
Lorie Jones with Macbeth quote around neck
Aquarelle cold-pressed watercolour paper 300 gsm rough side, 297 x 420 mm, 2B, 2H, and HB pencils. March 2024.
Lorie Jones taught English in schools and discovered a love of Shakespeare, and now runs courses on Shakespeare for U3A. Her favourite play is ‘Macbeth’. The pattern around the neck of her dress lent itself to incorporating one of the play’s most famous lines ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…’
Isa Celik and Encaustic Tile
Winsor and Newton Visual Diary paper, 110 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B pencil and Winsor and Newton Artists' watercolour paints. February 2023.
Isa Celik (Opus Tile Restoration) is the wonderfully skilled craftsman, now friend, who restored our Victorian tiled hallway. It took me four years to find him and considering he is based in York, we lucked in when we contacted him as he was in the process of restoring a Roman villa in Somerset which meant only a short drive to quote on our work. To restore our damaged tiled hallway, encaustic tiles to replace broken tiles were specially made from the archives of Craven Dunnill Jackfield Ltd Tile Museum in Shropshire and plain geometric tiles were replaced in reclaimed. We then made a time capsule outlining the work and placed it under the tiles for future generation to find. We realised how fortunate we were to find Isa when we learned that Opus Tile Restoration had won the Best Heritage Award at the 2024 Tile Association Awards, a richly deserved accolade for such a masterful artisan. His attribute is one of our beautiful encaustic tiles.
Gillian Helfgott, three days before she died
Cass Art newsprint paper, 45 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B pencil. August 2022.
Gillian Helfgott was an astrological friend of Bernadette Brady before Gillian met David Helfgott and the film Shine changed their lives forever and has been a joint friend of ours for nearly 40 years. Sharing a week each year with her and David and her children, filmmakers Sue and Scott Murray, at their rented villa in Palaia, Tuscany, or in Kingham, Oxfordshire, was always a laughter-filled, joyful event that only long-lived friendships can build. We had planned another summer together, but it was not to be. My way through her short time in hospital was to sketch her and she died at the age of 90 on 16 August 2022. As this was my first sketched portrait, I was not including attributes at that time, but there is no doubt that for this vibrant, socially engaged, generous, and passionate woman, it would have been the opening bar of music of David’s specialties, Chopin, Liszt, or Rachmaninov.
Bridget Smith with running shoes
Karst recycled stone paper 240 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B, 2H, and HB pencils and Winsor and Newton Artists' watercolour paints. July 2024.
Bridget Smith is my hairdresser, and in June 2024 celebrated forty years of service at Halo Hair and Beauty Salon, South Molton. She plays hockey and basketball, but it wasn’t until 2015 that she took up running. Since then, her love of running has meant she has made impressive gains in the running world, competing in the London Marathon, the Glasgow to Edinburgh Ultra, and the York Marathon, amongst others. I was transfixed by her focused attention on the snipping scissors as she cut my hair, but her attribute has to be her running shoes.
Ash Gill, The Moment Before
Karst recycled stone paper 240 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B, 2H, and HB pencils. December 2024.
I wanted to explore the idea of stillness and focus, two essential ingredients in archery, and asked my archer friend, Ash Gill, if he would be my model. I took a variety of photographs as it’s not really possible to ask an archer to hold a pose with a drawn bow for longer than a minute. I was happy with the end result.
Gillian Helfgott (1931-2022)
Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper, wax colour pencil and pigment, 27.9 cm x 35.6 cm. March 2025. Photo: K. Andreasova.
Gillian Murray encountered David Helfgott playing piano at Riccardos’ Restaurant in Perth, Western Australia. David was a child prodigy who had gone to London to study at the Royal College of Music but suffered with mental illness and returned to Perth. He and Gillian married in 1984 and a film, Shine, which dealt with the David’s formative years and mental struggles, was made in 1996, a film for which Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for his portrayal of David. With Gillian’s help, David returned to the world stage as a concert pianist, and she managed his tours until she died aged 90 in August 2022. She was a woman of enormous enthusiasm and lived a creative life until her last breath. We were proud to call her our friend for forty years.
Molly Rose at 10
Strathmore Bristol, Vellum paper, oil-based colour pencil, 27.9 cm x 35.6 cm. May 2025.
My beloved cat who patiently sat for me and allowed me to rummage through her fur to find colour matches and to understand how fur grows on her body.
Janice Pearce
Handmade cotton paper, wax colour pencil, watercolour, and magazine text 31 cm x 41 cm. July 2025.
I was experimenting with handmade cotton paper from Two Rivers Paper in Watchet. I went through several iterations before arriving at this version. Janice was a lawyer for many years and is now writing a novel, so her attribute had to be words.
Botanical Art
Pumpkin
Bockingford Aquarelle cold-pressed watercolour paper 300 gsm, 410 x 310 mm, Winsor and Newton Artists' watercolour paints. October 2023.
Calla Lily
Bockingford Aquarelle cold-pressed watercolour paper 300 gsm, 410 x 310 mm, Winsor and Newton Artists' watercolour paints. July 2023.
Hellebore
Bockingford Aquarelle cold-pressed watercolour paper 300 gsm, 410 x 310 mm, Winsor and Newton Artists' watercolour paints. March 2023.
Pumpkin - tonal
Winsor and Newton Visual Diary paper, 110 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B pencil. October 2023.
Calla Lily - tonal
Winsor and Newton Visual Diary paper, 110 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B pencil. July 2023.
Hellebore - tonal
Winsor and Newton Visual Diary paper, 110 gsm, 297 x 420 mm, 2B pencil. March 2023.
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