AN artist who had to cancel a big show has turned her talents to supporting frontline workers during these difficult times.

Earlier in the year, Joan Prickett, of Blindcrake, had been preparing for an exhibition. But coronavirus halted all those plans and left her feeling unmotivated - until she was inspired by a national initiative.

“In May I planned a show of my paintings, including over 24 recent portraits, but Covid-19 and lockdown effectively scuppered everything,” said Joan. “Initially my motivation was seriously challenged but, fortunately, it was reignited by a clever initiative inviting artists to provide one NHS key worker with a free portrait as a ‘thank you’ for their dedicated work. In the end I committed to doing four.”

An accomplished portrait artist, Joan prefers to work from life when possible. “The NHS portraits were challenging for me as I had to work from someone else’s photo and not even meet the subjects,” she said.

“However, I was able to talk with each and hearing their delight at having their portraits painted overcame any resistance I had to working solely from photographs.

“None had ever considered themselves important enough for a painted portrait. It will be something they can keep and show for generations as a record of what they did in this time of the pandemic.”

The four subjects were Kirsty Swords, a community nurse from Scotland, Megan Daly, an ICU doctor from London, and two Cumbrian health workers: Jules Haigh, a Carlisle midwife (with a new baby), and Eve Richards, Joan's daughter and a West Cumbrian community physiotherapist.

“Many lifetimes ago I trained as a nurse and midwife and I feel appalled at the poor and inconsistent PPE provided for these people.

“They are very courageous and deserving of a very big thank you,” said Joan.