Portrait by Artist Jeanie Laub 10 Apr 2017

I connected with the artist Jeanie Laub last year. She is someone who lives and breathes her aesthetic, works hard and is an accomplished artist, having had work exhibited at the iconic Royal Academy summer exhibition in London. She drew her interpretation of my poem Ocean, a study in pencil, which was unexpected and beautiful.

I have been a study of some of her oil paintings. One which was inspired by a photo taken of me in Marrakesh, that was exhibited at Jeanie's last exhibition at the Doubtfire Gallery in Edinburgh. I attempted to buy the painting but it sold in the first ten minutes of the private view. So I was very pleased to be able to buy this second portrait. It looked great in photos, but its presence in real life is incredible. It's vast and the way the light catches it, makes me stop and look each time I walk past. It reminds me of a symbolist painting.

I'm honoured to have been painted by Jeanie Laub, who is just as elegant and unique as her work, her work I'm so proud to have on my wall.