Jan 2023 - June 2023

Drawing someone is a very intimate and contemplative process, both for the sitter and for the artist. Quiet conversation during the drawing process can illuminate so much more about the sitter than just a drawing ever can. 

As the project goes on, the portraits and conversations from the early stages will already be part of the past.  How will the realities of the future present have changed? I will endeavour to choose a wide range of people, some known to me, and some not.

I want this to document the realities of individuals, their joys and their concerns, big and small.  The documentation will evolve with time.  Each person’s testimonies will be forever tied to their painted portraits, to be fully shared as a body of work in 2030.  Woven into the fabric of the project are little notes recording the events at that particular time, for context.

Later note - April 2020 - Covid-19 hit us all.  So I learned to work with people via Zoom!  Portraits created via a screen have a different feel, but that is all part of this evolving story.  More recently, I am back to doing portraits in person, but also have Zoom as a way of reaching sitters who are further away.

Please enjoy the journey back through these posts.

"P.B." 30th June 2023  Full of concerns about truth and power in our world, but offering her own, very positive, solutions.

"P.B."  30/06/2023

30/6/23  'Once in a lifetime' reform of NHS announced to recruit more staff over 15 yrs, including apprenticeships.  Currently 

112,000 vacancies  & 50% recuitment is from abroad.

29/6/23  UK Rwanda flights plan declared 'unlawful' by Court of Appeal.

28/6/23  Teenager shot in the head by French police.  Days of riots ensue.

27/6/23  Missile strike on Kramatorsk Pizza restaurant.  12+ people killed.  

24/6/23 Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin leads 25,00 of his men towards Moscow.  They reach Rostov.  Then they                        retreat.  A deal is done and Progozhin exiled to Belarus?

23/6/23  Bank of England interest rate up to 5%.

22/6/23  75 years since the arrival of the Empire Windrush

20/6/23  Sub carrying 5 people  to see Titanic wreck disappears without trace.

15/6/23  Privileges Committee find BJ guilty of misleading Parliament on numerous occasions.

14/6/23  Boat carrying over 600 migrants sinks of the Greek coast.  Greek coastguards involved in some way.

11/6/23  Nicola Sturgeon arrested for 7hrs over financial irregularities in SNP and missing £600,000.

9/6/23  Boris Johnson resigns from Parliament with immediate effect, having received a copy of the report on lockdown parties.

8/6/23  Trump indicted (again) by Federal Court over hundreds of boxes of Classified documents taken from White House.

6/6/23  Major breach of Nova Kakhovka Dam in S. Ukraine.  Hundreds of towns flooded.

3/6/23  Appalling train crash in India.  3 trains, over 300 dead.

2/6/23  Covid enquiry asking for full access to B. Johnson's WhatsApp messages.  

30/5/23  Uganda outlaws homosexuality, punishable by death or life inprisonment.

29/5/23  Met police say they will nt respond to mental health callouts any more, unless there is a threat to life.

28/5/23  Erdogan wins Turkey election  52%/48%.  Media & judiciary run by him, with runaway inflation.  What future?

24/5/23  Net migration in UK  488,000 in 2021, 606,000 in 2022 and est. 1,000,000 in 2023.

22/5/23  Russian 'pro-Ukrainian' group "Russian Volunteer Corps" attack Belgorod region.

19/5/23  G7 meet in Hiroshima.  Biden promises to train Ukrainian pilots in F16s.

9/5/23  trump in court accused of assault and defamation of a woman (Stormy Daniels)

6/5/23  CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III

"T. J." 5th May 2023.  The last Twist Hand in the country. Is this just industrial evolution or post-Brexit vandalism? A fascinating insight into the centuries-old lace-making industry and its current sanctuary at Cluny Lace.

"T.J."  5/5/2023

5/5/23   Local Elections across England & N.Ireland.  Tories lose over 1,000 councillors, Labour +50. Lib Dem +40
              Greens - 1st overall council in Mid Suffolk.

4/5/23   Extraordinary footage of a drone explosion above the Kremlin.  Ukraine denies responsibility.

2/5/23   Geoffrey Hinton, pioneer of AI tech, resigns from Google amidst growing concerns over its ethical implications.                          Warns of its 'dangers'. especially in the hands of 'bad actors'.

1/5/23   3rd week of terror in Sudan.  First Republic Bank in US fails.  £rd bank to do so.

30/4/23  Another 24hr nurses strike incl. intensive care nurses.

23/4/23   3pm - an alarm goes off on all UK smartphones.But not quite all!  What is it for?

16/4/23  Violence erupts in Sudan -  State Military Commander vs. Paramilitary Commander. Khartoum under heavy fire.

              Rush to evacuate foreign nationals. Ceasefires not holding.

11/4/23   4 day Junior Doctor's strike running into Easter weekend.  Unprecedented.  Over 200,000 appointments cancelled.

8/4/23  Israel/Palestinian tensions very explosive.  Intersection of Easter/Passover/Ramadan all meeting at the El Axa Mosque.

7/4/23  25 year anniversary of Good Friday Agreement.

6/4/23  Peter Murrell (N. Stugeon's husband) rraested for 12hrs re. SNP finances.

4/4/23  Trump pleads Not Gulity to 34 felony countsof falsifying business records.

31/3/23   Britain to join Trans Pacific Trade Partnership (CPTPP)

29/3/23  Government plans to house recent immigrants in old ferries and disused barracks.

27/3/23  Humzah Yousaf elected SNP Leader, and will become Scottish First Minister.

21/3/23  IPCC delivers "Final Warning" on Climate Crisis.  Must reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, not 2050.

              Report into Met. Police finds them "Institutionally racist, homophobic, misogenistic & broken"!

20/3/23   20 year anniversary of  Iraq conflict "Shock & Awe".  How is this different from Russia/Ukraine?

19/3/23   Another bank in danger.  UBS takes over Credit Suisse.

18/3/23   Putin visits Mariupol in carefully choreographed (fake?) tour.

17/3/23   ICC declares arrest warrant for Putin + another official for War Crimes, & removing children to Russia.

15/3/23  Budget Day. Jeremy Hunt.  Targeting getting people back to work.  Retirees, parents of small children etc. Domestic                  fuel bill subsidiary extended for 3 months.

13/3/23  Junior doctors on strike for 3 days.  Lineker reinstated.  Battle for Bakhmut continues - slaughter on both sides.

12/3/23  Silicone Valley Bank in US goes bust.  Subsidiary in UK bought out by HSBC for £1.

11/3/23  Gary Lineker Tweets against Suella Braverman decision.  All football commentary on BBC cancelled.

8/3/23   UNHCR condemns new asylum rules.  Even those who have compelling claims will not be able to present them.

5/3/23   100+ Members of the UN sign a deal to protect the world's oceans.  Rishi Sunak & Suella Braverman announce that                     all "illegal" immigrants WILL be deported to Rwanda and lose any right to ever claim for asylum here.

"R.W."  1 March 2023  This is the most powerful story of love in the face of great adversity. 

"R.W" 1/3/23

1/3/23     2.3 million words of Matt Hancock's "Lockdown Files" released by his biographer.  Damning.

28/2/23   Increasing violence in West Bank as Israelis build new settlements.

27/2/23  "Windsor Framework" presented by Ursula Von der Leyen & Rishi Sunak to ease N. Ireland post-Brexit difficulties.

24/2/23  1 year anniversary of Russia's invasion. UN General Council calls for Russia's immediate withdrawal. 

              Vote 141 For & 7 Against -  Belarus, N. Korea, Eritreia, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria & Russia!

21/2/23  Putin Sate of the Nation speech. Blames West for Ukraine invasion.  Biden speech in Warsaw "Battle for Democracy".

"E.H."  20 February 2023  So committed to holding our water companies and the government to account, and saving our seas from sewage releases.  Working with SOSWhitstable (Save Our Seas Whitstable).

"E.H."  20/2/23

20/2/23   Government demanding that water companies improve infrastructure.  Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv.

18/2/23  Rishi Sunak trying to renegotiate N.Ireland Protocol.

15/2/23   Nicola Sturgeon resigns as leader of SNP

11/2/23   Car-sized object(s) spotted over USA & Canada.  Shot down.  Chinese? 

8/2/23   Huge earthquake in Turkey/N. Syria - over 50,000 killed. Buildings collapsed too easily, -5deg.C., no aid access.

             Zelenski visits speech in Westminster Hall, asking for air support.  "Wings for Freedom".

1/2/23    More  strikes - Trains, teachers, ambulances, civil servants, airport staff, universities.

31/1/23 UK is the only large economy forecast to have negative growth (-0.6%) - even Russia's economy is growing!

"G.D." 29 January 2023   He shares his thoughts on the world of social media, and its uses for good and for harm, and how he struggles with the compulsive pull.

"G.D."  29/1/23

29/1/23   Nadhim Zahawi (ex. Chancellor) sacked as Party Chairman.

28/1/23   5 black policemen in Memphis accused of beating up and murdering 29yr-old black motorist.

"D.C."  26 January 2023   D.C. is a postman and tells me how the job has changed over the many years he has been doing it. This sitting was neatly timed when there was a postal strike imminent.

"D.C."   26/1/23

26/1/23  420 unaccompanied migrant children have disappeared from UK hotels.

25/1/23  Germany agrees to send 14 Leopard tanks, and allow other countries to do the same - 100+ in total.

24/1/23  Nahim Zahawi (Chancellor) had to pay £5m fine to HMRC.

22/1/23  Peru in turmoil against government.  Machu Pichu closed.

18/1/23  Nurses begin 2 day strike.  Food prices up 16% in December.

              Helicopter crash in Kyiv killing Ukrainian Interior Minister & team, and children in a nursery.

16/1/23  David Carrick, a Met. Police Officer, convicted of 24 counts of rape & 49 offences in total.

14/1 23  Britain to send 12 Challenger tanks to Ukraine.  Attacks all over, targeting Ukraine power infrastructure.

11/1/23   Ambulance drivers' strike.  More Rolls Royces and Bentleys sold in 2022 than ever before!

Train strikes and more train strikes.

4/1/23  Temperatures in Europe 10deg.C. higher than normal.

1/1/23  New Year, new terrors.  Putin bombards Ukraine.  They hit back, striking a school housing many Russian recruits.