Who Is Veronica?

Veronica is my alter ego, last year I experimented with oil paints, I started with painting a few dogs getting the hang of the lovely buttery consistency of the paint then I decided to move on to portraits. Now the question when painting portraits is who to paint. I began with unknown young attractive ladies but it really didn't interest me I didn't get any enjoyment from the process so I moved on to famous people...again not even a flicker of excitement. Then I came across the photographs of Sirli Raitma's mother and I was hooked! The photographs are hilarious and with almost Les Dawson like expressions her face speaks volumes.

My portraits of Veronica have developed over time and now she plays to the beat of my own drum because she is no model but has a beautiful white bouncy perm, her face has been lived in but she still knows how to make the best of it with the help of some colourful eye shadow, she hates birthdays, she spies on her neighbours, eats hot dogs and loves her pets. In a way she reminds me of Audrey from To the Manor Born full of pride and class and the ability to laugh at herself and that’s what I like about her most is that she is fun.

When it comes down to it I think Veronica is my way of dealing with the menopause, ‘they’ don't tell you what the effects of getting older are and sadly my mother died in her 50's and never shared the transition she went through so it has been somewhat of a learning curve for me. I’m only 54 but in my head I’m still 30, I’m not a fan of getting old for many reasons so when I look at Veronica I like to think she has got it nailed, she has accepted it with grace and still has what it takes to be noticed and wanted. Which is partly what we all want really isn’t it?