Clare and Sara 
Kate
I have just completed a set of three un-commissioned portraits of NHS workers for the #portraitsfornhsheroes project started by Tom Croft on. These have been a fascinating opportunity for me to celebrate everyday people doing extraordinary things.
The first nurse portrait was started the day after the Thursday hand clapping started and last was started the day after it all stopped. This is reflected in the newspaper clippings used as a collage background in all the paintings, along with the rainbow motif. This triptych of three paintings I am calling ‘the faces behind the headlines’.
The project works by putting a green canvas on your Instagram page and then waiting for someone to claim or nominate a portrait. Tom was first to nominate his fiancé Clare and her sister Sara who are nurses at Peterborough Hospital. Second to claim was Kate who is a speach therapist at a Birmingham Hospital.
Third to be painted was Sumita who is an anesthetist at Croydon Hospital. What drew me to the photograph she submitted were the indentations on her cheeks from the mask. It seemed symbolic of a pandemic which has left a mark on all of us.
