I had been asked to do a painting of Kate Bush for an exhibition at the Strand Gallery in London for the She-Bop-A-Lula Exhibition, the theme being iconic women singers, which features over 60 photographs of some of the most successful and creative women singers from the last six decades.
There were just two paintings to feature in the exhibition, Kate Bush by myself and Barbara Streisand by Sally Munton both to be auctioned for the charity Breakthrough (for breast cancer).
‘I wanted an idea that would be totally different from the usual standard portrait so I came up with the concept of three canvas’s, the main canvas in the middle being Kate Bush’s face. I always remember seeing her in videos swaying and waving her arms around, pulling her hands across her face. Hence the two other canvas’s top and bottom. I thought that if I did her full body it would loose the impact and so decided to just paint the hands which we remember her for.’
The exhibition ran from 7 March - 1 April.