As a child, retreating to my bedroom to draw a portrait was a sacred ritual. I would ride to the local newsagency to buy a comic or magazine and return home to devour and draw faces from parts of the world that seemed so far from my suburban life.
Living in the rural town of Castlemaine I travel weekly to Melbourne to work at Arts Project Australia and stay Friday nights at Dad’s house. After dinner, we sit on the couch and tune into Gardening Australia. Costa’s joyful face remedies the weekly buildup of horrible news happening in the world. We follow his journey through this garden or that, building appreciation for the tiny peacock spiders of Western Australia or the work of ethnobotanists in Far North Queensland.
It came as a surprise to receive a call from the National Portrait Gallery to paint Costa. Suddenly I was picking him up from Castlemaine station and he was sitting in our backyard slurping congee through that wild beard. We spoke for hours about family, philosophy, plants, love and the beard and I was left infected with a strong urge to get my hands dirty in the garden. I painted him from life and took reference photos for the commission. Off camera, Costa is the same passionate person keen to connect on every level. He takes time to ponder each question and offer answers peppered with cherished life experience and self-realised purpose and wisdom. When he’s not producing the show, he’s helping someone in need grow a garden or connecting children to Junior Landcare.
I began the portrait with Costa’s face, smiling eyes, characterful nose and toothy grin hidden beneath layers of curly hair. I love picking up on what makes a person unique, the facial creases, the buttons they choose to leave open. His hands are clasped together partly in prayer and partly with big thumbs up. The background is a tapestry of plants with indigenous animals, birds, butterflies and lizards hidden between foliage. Interwoven with native plants are a few introduced species such as an olive tree that recalls Costa’s childhood spent with his grandparents growing seedlings for the local market. This work was so enjoyable to paint I almost felt sad to finish it.
