"Jack Vettriano" - a portrait

40 x 40 cm

Oil on canvas

This is the second of my two portrait submissions for the open exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy in Nov / Dec. It's a painting I'm daring to be rather proud of (although not so daring as to have high hopes the judges will accept it into the show). The portrait is of a man whose artistic talents I greatly admire and who is, as it happens, a fellow Fifer.

Jack Vettriano doesn't need any introduction from me of course, but you may be wondering about the younger looking Jack in this painting. It's based on some tv footage from 1992 when Jack was in his early forties. It's interesting to see him in his Edinburgh flat surrounded by his paintings, talking quietly but enthusiastically about his life and work so far. He wears an old jumper and a pair of overalls which are covered in oil paint, and his long hair looks wild and unkempt. He talks about the long hours he puts into his work, and you are left in no doubt as to just how many hours he means. Here is a man for whom painting is everything, who probably slept, washed and ate grudgingly because it was all time that could have otherwise been spent at the easel.

It's hard not to admire that sort of passion in an artist. Vettriano is a great talent, but it is that passion, coupled with the sheer dedication and hard work of the younger Vettriano that I love to be inspired by. I doubt he ever expected to have the wealth and fame that eventually came his way, but I often think about the sheer excitement he must have felt in those early days when he first realised he was at least going to be successful enough to earn a living from painting. For me, that's a very satisfying part of any artist's story.