When I begin a portrait like that of Scarlett Johansson, or Eva, or Masha (Maria), women I may have known only briefly in real life if at all, it’s like plunging into an ocean of infinite possibilities from which in a state of exhilarated despair I hope to net something of the essence of these women that, like an incredibly rare fish is elusive and ungraspable so in the end I create a complex image which while it cannot be a facsimile of them could not be anyone one else but them.