Barbara Skingle studied painting at Alberta College of Art and Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Her work has been seen at the annual exhibitions of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (1997, 2004) and in group exhibitions in Canada.
The portrait is of Skingle’s daughter, Katherine, with the family’s pet canary, Millie. The portrait was created from a combination of sittings, reference photographs and memory. Katherine has sat for her mother on a number of occasions, who says: ‘Katherine is tuned in to both the dark and light of this world which is why I have put her in a slightly defensive posture.’ (Text taken from National Portrait Gallery)
Nathan Ford took a BA (Hons) degree in fine art at Byam Shaw School of Art. His work has been seen in solo exhibitions in Bath and group exhibitions including those of the Royal Society of British Artists (2001, 2002) and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (1999–2006), whose Winsor and Newton Young Artist of the Year Award he won in 2001. His work was included in the BP Portrait Award in 2000 and 2010.
This portrait of Ford’s friend Abi was painted from a single sitting in February 2011. (Text taken from National Portrait Gallery)
Raoul Martinez left formal education at the age of seventeen in order to work as an apprentice in the studio of the artist Paul Benney. Since setting up his own studio, Martinez has forged a career as a portraitist and documentary film maker. He is working towards his first solo exhibition.
Shortly before his death last year, the historian, playwright and activist, Howard Zinn, granted Martinez an interview and sitting for his ‘Creating Freedom’ project. Among Zinn’s extensive list of publications, he is probably best known as the author of A People’s History of the United States(1980). (Text taken from National Portrait Gallery)
