"Velvet George"

"Velvet George" 
 Kerry Wright, 1980 
Oils on canvas
60cm x 50cm (24in x 20in)

The question is sometimes hypothetically posed, "In the event of a fire, with what precious belongings would you flee the burning building?" I have no hesitation in responding that I would choose to take this portrait of my dear friend, George, along with the portrait of my mother in the blue dress (scroll down). They are my two most precious belongings in all the world, primarily because they represent the two most precious people in my life. George was 30 when I painted his portrait in 1980. He was a portrait painter's dream subject, with his broodingly dark good looks and startlingly attractive blue-grey eyes under a knotted brow. He is painted in a favourite red shirt of the time, resulting in a friend christening the portrait "Velvet George". It was through a mutual friend that George and I first met, at Long Reef in Sydney in February 1973, not long after he had left the Royal Australian Navy and I had left the Carmelite Monastery. We have been an integral part of each other's life ever since.