The reader

By Tony Curran

My lovely friend, Sonya, is married to Tony Curran, an artist. Tony has an exhibition on at the art gallery and members of the public have been able to book a session with him, where he 'paints' their portrait on his iPad. I decided to book a session for my birthday lunchtime.

When I look through the Flickr collection of all the portraits, there are so many people I recognise from around town; people from my work, church, in my book club, who work at council. Even when their faces aren't finished, I can still tell, at first glance, who they are. Don't you think it's extraordinary what he can capture in one hour?

I booked another session so it can be finished, though I love this one as it is. I love my shoes and basket, my shirt and that he was pretty flattering in terms of size! In case you are interested, the book I was reading (and I did, indeed, read during the sitting, though I managed to chat a little bit - it's hard to pose as reading and not actually do it) was The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl, which I was reading for work, and the book on the top of the pile is Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, which I am not enjoying as much as Crossing to Safety, but that is a hard book to beat.

I think this is a pretty special thing to have; well worth the sore back and restless leg that comes from sitting like this for an hour! I can wear exactly the same outfit when I go for the second sitting, but the books will be different and my hair will have grown.....