Portraits for NHS heroes

This is my portrait of NHS Paramedic Helen Chiverton, who responds in an ambulance to 999 calls in London. I painted it as part of #portraitsfornhsheroes - a great Instagram portrait initiative started by @tomcroftartist where artists donate a free oil portrait to a nominated NHS frontline worker, created in lockdown from photographs. Helen, who sent me a selfie to work from, said of her job:

“I love it because my patients can be newborn (or in some cases being born!) all the way to the very elderly and everyone in the middle and in every walk and stage of life, and you have to be on your toes because things can change so quickly and are sometimes not quite what they seem. We carry drugs and equipment to treat and help people having medical, mental and social health problems and dealing with situations in people’s houses or in public places can be challenging. At the moment we, like all other areas of medicine and of course plenty of other fields, are finding that everything has changed and is constantly changing as more is learned about this virus. The PPE we are wearing with patients can complicate things, for example by making it much harder to communicate with people, but I am so grateful for it. We are working with firefighters as well at the moment who are supporting us on the ambulances which is brilliant and the AA are also working with us as well as so many other companies and community groups and individuals, we notice them all and are so thankful for them, it makes such a difference!”