Veronica Philocles, oil on linen, 90 x 130cm

Veronica works at a crêpe stand in Hampstead, London. I met her while I was doing a painting of the pub next door to the stand. One day while investigating my pub painting she suggested, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that I paint her portrait. But her prompt inspired one of those rare moments in which composition, colour palette and size were immediately clear to me. Working on site was challenging, as the painting was quite large and the crêpe stand is popular. On a weekend, the queue can last from midday until the stand closes at 11pm. Luckily, Veronica was an ideal model and could quickly snap into pose whenever there was the occasional lull in customers. She and the other staff kindly allowed me to paint the interior of the stand in the mornings, opening the hatch while they prepped. In between frequent site visits, the rest of the work was done in my studio from reference photos. She is such a vibrant person that I wanted her colourful character to pop against the more muted, everyday surroundings. Initially Veronica can be somewhat formidable, but I now know that her apposite, professional manner belies her incredible friendliness and warmth. I worked on the painting from July 2019 to January 2020, in between other projects and commissions.