Simon’s fiancée Ellie Williams is entering the BP Portrait Award 2010 and after careful contemplation of which face inspires her most, husband-to-be Simon was the perfect subject choice.

The Portrait Award is now in its thirty-first year at the National Portrait Gallery, is open to everyone aged 18 and over and is aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop the theme of portraiture in their work.

Last year over 1,900 artists submitted their work and the exhibition, which featured sixty paintings, was seen by a record 298,000 people in London alone. Many artists who have had their work exhibited have gained commissions as a result of the considerable interest in the Portrait Award and the resulting exhibition and let’s hope that such successes follow for Ellie.

The portrait process

After settling on her subject, and with the competition’s submission deadline of 14^th February fast approaching, Ellie went ahead with the preparations. She commissioned Ben’s lovely Lucy to take some portraiture photography of Simon looking moody and thoughtful as a starting point.

You can see more of Lucy Hackett’s fabulous photography, featuring the original shots of Simon at: http://www.lucyhackett.co.uk.

Ellie, who showcases her artworks at the Artway Gallery and via various social media platforms such as Facebook has recorded each stage of the long process to perfection.

The stages show how Ellie started with a simple sketch and then gradually built up both detail and colour with the greatest care and precision. I think you’ll agree that’s Ellie has captured Simon beautifully, even if his multitude of freckles were giving her painter’s cramp

Stay tuned to find out about Ellie’s progress in the competition…