Ruth Phillips as a baby
Pencil, 15.5 x 15.7 cm, 1964
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Ruth
Oil on board, 19.1 x 14 cm, 1988
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Ruth
Pencil, 40 x 29.2 cm, 1989
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I've always experienced particular difficulty in drawing or painting my own family. One ambitious portrait of my former wife went through many patient sittings before being abandoned. The novelty of a first child led to drawings of Ruth as a baby yet I've never managed to capture her spirit since, apart from perhaps in this small oil study. My only near success with Leo has been when drawing him playing the violin; I cannot explain why they prove so elusive.

The Portrait Works (1989),  p. 81, 95-96.

See also: www.ruthphillips.com

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