MILLIE SMITH. Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 75.0 x 51.4 cm
June 2026
My latest portrait is of Millie Smith, the second painting I've made for this family, following an earlier portrait of her older brother. This was Millie's first portrait photo shoot, taken on a bright early-spring morning in Dorset, with the low, soft sunlight giving everything a gentle warmth. The photograph was taken at a good friend's wedding, and, similar to her brother's portrait, Millie was dressed in more formal attire for the occasion, which gave the image a slightly grown-up, considered feel while still being entirely her.
We took several hundred photographs that day, working through different poses and angles, but this one stood out from the rest almost immediately. There's a calm, serene quality to it, her expression settled and quietly composed, that captures her age perfectly. At the same time, it holds onto something charmingly childlike, a softness in her features that I wanted the painting to preserve rather than smooth away.
What drew me in most was the direction of the light, particularly the way it caught the texture of her woolly cardigan and the way her hair fell loosely down over one shoulder. Most of her body sits in soft shadow, with the highlights concentrated almost entirely on the cardigan and her hair, giving the image a natural, unforced focal point. In the painting, I chose to push that contrast further than it appeared in the photograph, deepening the shadow areas slightly so the highlights on the cardigan and hair carry more weight and draw the eye more deliberately than they did in the source image.
For the background, I returned to my signature block colour approach, drawing on the stone tones of the wall behind her in the original photograph. I kept the same soft gradient that was present in the shot, letting it shift gently across the canvas rather than settling into a single flat colour, which felt true to the quality of light in the original photograph.
As with my recent work, I began with a small poster study before moving on to a second, mid-sized study, ahead of starting the main canvas. The studies proved useful groundwork, helping me work out how much detail to bring to the dress and cardigan without overworking either, and giving me the chance to practise the hair highlights before committing to them at full scale. By the time I reached the main canvas, I had a much clearer sense of where restraint would serve the painting and where I could allow myself more detail.
More behind-the-scenes photos and process studies are available on my blog. My Instagram and on the blog at my website.
