Love me tender

Illness and the elderly are something people shy away from and choose not to confront. True, a sickbed is a scary place but it is an inaccurate representation of someone's entire life.

These two paintings are from the BP Portrait award, the one directly above being the winner by Daphne Todd. It is called 'Last Portrait of Mother' and was completed over three days after the death of her 100 year old mother. Although it is harrowing to look at, something about the artist being 63 herself makes it an even more interesting piece of work. I wouldn't go so far as to say Daphne Todd knew morbidity entirely but more that she has a gentle cognisance of it.

The other painting is ' Put the Dog and the Cat in the Poster' by Rosy Lamb and the drawing is mine. I did that drawing after seeing a similar photograph of a woman seated amongst her possessions. I liked seeing a commemoration to a life while the subject was still very much alive so created my own version, amalgamating different images of furniture, interiors and an elderly woman. I wanted her to be not in a care home but her own.