Drishcoora - Maeve & Keith Robinson by Nicholas Benedict Robinson

"This is a portrait of my parents, Maeve & Keith in their home in county Wicklow, Ireland where I grew up. I wanted to paint a double portrait so I asked my parents to pose. Beforehand I looked at Otto Dix and Vincent Brown portraits. Vincent Brown said he painted what he knew, which I wanted to do as well. My parents had jobs and careers, which mattered to people, but for me this domestic setting is what I know of them. Choosing this location helped me to describe my own understanding of them.

I made it close to life size in keeping with the principles of painting from life. I also wanted to make one figure more prominent, something I noticed in the Rembrandt 'Late Works' London show. But I tried to unify the composition with the light, the rhythms of the features and background objects such as the two cooker lids.

I like to look at other artists who paint from life and how this connects to them personally. I find painting subjects I know in this way is affirming for me and I hope it might be for others too." – NICHOLAS BENEDICT ROBINSON