Portrait of a Stranger

This stranger has been around a long time for me as this portrait was always around in the house I grew up in. I don't know if she is a long-ago family member or something interesting my dad picked up on one of his many visits to junk shops and street markets. I never thought to ask who she was and it's too late now.

As a child I used to twist the picture around in the light to make the lady appear and disappear but I never noticed how spooky she looks.

My dad was a real magpie and I grew up in a house filled with ticking clocks and china. I think his collecting drove my mum mad - she used to tell the story of being in hospital after just having had my brother. They were really short of money at the time and desperately needed things for the new baby when my dad rushed in all excited with a beautiful antique Japanese tea set he had just bought!