In January 2016, I was happy to hear from Sharon Bierer in London. She'd seen the Big Issue portraits in the New Year magazine and wrote to commission a portrait of her family. Her husband, Dr Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen and Sharon are both Dentists. Henrik is in fact the Chair of the General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC). The family does tremendous work in support of our NHS, as well as having co-founded a charity practice in Burma. On finding out a little more about the family I visited the Dental Collection at Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh. It was there I saw the cartoon, ‘Transplanting of Teeth’ by Rowlandson. The composition and the fun of it, despite the adventitious content, was an inspiration.
I visited the family at their home in February, on the fateful day that Boris Johnson announced he was going to lead the Brexit campaign. I took lots of photographs throughout the experience. Sharon was keen to have a big painting which was a very welcome challenge. Together we chose a scale and a composition that everyone was happy with and I got on with it. 2016 was one hell of a year. The Bierer-Nielsens were a great client, and I was pleased to add to their lovely family collection of photographs and paintings.
