Bury me with a mandarin

Bury Me with a Mandarin is an oil portrait of a friend, Hope Jenkins. It was inspired during a conversation whilst eating mandarins one day. I knew I wanted to paint Hope at that time, and as she joked about her childhood love of eating mandarins and her family teasing that they would bury her with one, the portrait scene was set. I found it befitting to use a little quirky passing family joke to portray Hope, as she herself is quirky, fun loving and family orientated.