Ally

Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, I saw someone wearing a lovely rainbow painting on their Covid Mask. Who would ever have thought, pre-pandemic, that Face Masks would become a fashion statement? This female portrait is a painting of myself, and I included a rainbow mask on my self-portrait, because I was bringing together two strong sets of emotions which were bumping around in my head at the time. Firstly I was deeply concerned about the Global Pandemic, and the great harm it was doing to people all over the world. Also, on a more personal level, I was thinking about a special person in my life, who is on a journey of discovery with the LGBTQ2 community. The rainbow mask I had seen earlier floated back into my thoughts, and I decided this would be a great way to bring together the two emotional thoughts in my head, and create a work of art.

This portrait is based on a photograph of me from a few years ago, and if I am remembering correctly I was smiling at the friend who is currently on the journey, and they were holding my camera and taking this photo of me. I had to draw my face under the mask, even though I later painted over it, because it was the only way to get the contours and the shading correct for my face.