Neil Paterson

Artist to Hilltown!

I worked on my drawings of the Hilltown participants by sitting with them, sketching them, observing them and talking to them at their meetings. This meant that I saw them as participants in a creative process: I saw them thinking, writing, discussing, performing... I did not ask them to pose for a portrait.

After this, I stayed at home and thought about them - thought about how I pictured them mentally, and thought about the picture I wanted to draw - this is quite different to drawing a portrait. The better I had got to know the subject, the more interesting the picture.

At the end of the day I was more interested in the picture I was creating than in the 'photographic' representation of the sitter. As Matisse said when a viewer criticised the length of the arm on one of his nudes:

'Madam, you forget - this is not a nude lady - this is paint on canvas.'

I hope everybody is satisfied with their 'cariacature' - remember people generally do not like thieir portraits - but if you become famous, people love publishing them, rather than a photograph...

Caricatures - Neil Paterson
Kinloch Rannoch - Sketchs by Neil Paterson