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Curtis Holder | Financial Times

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From Behind the scenes at the finals of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2020, Series 7, by the artist Curtis Holder:

Eddie Izzard is a creative person with different public personas, so I knew it would be a challenge to capture her on paper. While sketching we talked about gender identity and her decision to use female pronouns. Her openness inspired me to focus the portrait entirely on her eyes which are a magnificent blue. They were the thing I fell in love with as we chatted. Eddie was funny, expressive and fascinating to listen to, and although her body moved a lot, her eyes remained focused. I cut the top off the portrait off at the end to give it the cinematic composition I felt it needed, hoping to emphasise Eddie’s dramatic eyes and character.

It was a real thrill having my portrait chosen by Eddie, as throughout the competition I’d been able to correctly predict which artist’s portrait each of my sitters would choose. In the final I really couldn’t tell who it would be, so it was an honour to hear Eddie had made an emotional connection with my portrayal of her.

You can watch Eddie Izzard’s episode —episode 10 of series 7 — on either YouTube or tubi for free.