(acrylic on canvas 10”x 12”)
This portrait was inspired by a photograph on the front page of the Brighton Argus of a pretty young girl, Sharise, who suffered from depression and eventually hanged herself. I was deeply moved and saddened by her story and kept the newspaper article until, eight years later, while I was fighting for my own life after the two disastrous surgical operations on my brain tumour, I made up my mind to paint her portrait even if it was the last thing I ever did.