Ted wearing glasses

This portrait of Uncle Ted is one of many I painted at Ivymeade (Burnside), when a student at the SASA in Adelaide. I was boarding in a hostel and visited my Aunty Dot and Uncle Ted on weekends. Uncle Ted was my favourite portrait subject. His cheerful, easy-going, demeanour was an inspiration and he always posed obligingly. He claimed to be the most painted and drawn person in Australia. Long after he died aged 86, I continued to feature him in my drawings and paintings.

The incisions on the right side of the painting are saw cuts. This portrait survived being sawn up into pieces by my first husband. He found the masonite I painted on useful as a building material and when we were living in Glebe, he kept a ready supply of my paintings stacked on the balcony.

Influenced by van Gogh's Potato Eaters.