"First Night Daniel"

"First Night Daniel" 
 Kerry Wright, 1980 
Oils on canvas
90cm x 60cm (3ft x 2ft)

I'm not exactly sure why Daniel agreed to sit for this second portrait. At the time, I understood he liked the first portrait and was pleased to sit for another. As it turned out, he didn't like either. What's even more quizzical is that he agreed to sit for a third portrait! I appreciate that it is sometimes somewhat of a confrontational experience to have one's portrait painted. We only ever see ourselves in reverse image, in the mirror, which is not how we appear in reality, to others. It is why people often don't like photographs of themselves. For the same reason, portraits often go unappreciated by the sitter. Certainly, that was the case with Daniel. It would appear that sitting proved to be nothing more than an abjectly enervating experience for Daniel. And it brought out the art critic in him. In fact, he became my most strident, scathing critic. You can't please everyone, I guess. Not even when you're in the process of immortalizing them! Daniel is a lover of live theatre, which is why I have set his portrait in a theatre foyer, mingling on First Night. 

"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.