The Portland Series
The Portland Series is a set of nine paintings which were inspired by the seventeenth century history of the Portland Collection: the collection of art and objects brought together over the centuries by the Cavendish family in their home at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. The on-site Harley Gallery invited me to create a series of new paintings inspired by their collection. I focussed on the early decades at Welbeck in the late 16th and early 17th century and the art created and collected then. My paintings highlight the dynamic between the present and the past, using fabrics and clothing as the thread that binds the two together.