I was asked by Art Director Martin Colyer to paint 25 portraits of the contributors of The Critic Magazine. Commissioned over a couple of years, the portraits ranged from journalists to writers to Critics, each with their own speciality in culture and politics.
Martin said of my work -
When you’re in the middle of a magazine launch you need everyone to be on board, which is easy for the team actually putting it together, but harder for any freelance contributors drawn into the project. Vanessa had an extremely short time to turn around detailed portraits of our contributors when we didn’t even have a final list of who they’d be - writers were added and subtracted as our nascent magazine took shape. Even though we’d not worked together before I was never in doubt of her ability to deliver to a tough deadline - her communication was always calm, considered and realistic. Vanessa can not only paint extremely good likenesses but has the extra talent of capturing a look in the eyes that renders the portraits compelling. It was a great experience collaborating with Vanessa, and I’m hoping that a future project will give us a chance to work together again.
