This portrait was an absolute delight to work on! Commissioned by Anna’s husband Mats in 2023, we began by finding the right photograph together. A portrait like this needs a starting image with real life in it, and Anna – so vibrant and full of character – gave us plenty to choose from. Once we had settled on the photograph and the size (50×50 cm), I started sketching and developing ideas, and sent Mats the concept you can watch taking shape in the gallery below.
The portrait itself is etched and patinated in copper, though not as a single sheet. It is divided into a grid of fields that lend it dynamism and depth, with Anna’s face kept in its own quiet focus. In place of the original background, I set a wall of flowers behind her, and the piece is mounted so that it reads not as a flat image but as something with genuine substance.
In front of the portrait sits a second layer: a flowering lattice, etched and then patinated a deep teal, mounted a few centimetres clear of the copper. Because it stands away from the surface, light and the angle you stand at set a gentle shadow-play moving across Anna’s face — so the portrait is never experienced in quite the same way twice.
