Portrait by Annik, c1967

I've been very gradually sorting through things still in boxes since our house move nine years ago, which include some of the things I retrieved from my parents' loft when we cleared the house. I remember this portrait being painted - and of course I simultaneously painted Annik. She moved away soon after, I think back to the Netherlands, so although I'm still in touch with some of my primary school friends, I don't know what happened to her or her twin sister.  At the time, I was a little cross to be given her picture of me to bring home, rather than the one I had painted, but it was such fun to rediscover it. I think I was about seven, and the school photo from roughly the same time shows that apart from the absence of forehead, Annik observed and recorded me very well - the freckled nose, the pigtails and the mouth all seem quite good likenesses. The dress in the school photo, with its fashionable toning tie, was made by my aunt, I think for my seventh birthday, and I loved it. 

It's been raining all day, which is why I've messed around with old pictures rather than bringing in all the cavallo nero, which is about to run to seed and needs to be prepared for the freezer.