In 2004, I took part in the BP Portrait Award competition linked with the National Portrait Gallery, London. The Portrait Award is an annual event aimed at encouraging young artists aged between eighteen and forty from around the world, to focus upon and develop the theme of portraiture within their work. Many of the exhibiting artists have gained commissions as a result of the considerable interest aroused by the portrait award. The competition is judged from original paintings in oil, tempera or acrylic, which have been painted from the life with the human figure predominantly. In 2004 the judges selected fifty-four portraits out of a record number of 955 entries. A portrait of my son, Olivier, got selected and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, and was part of a touring exhibition shown at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (Exeter), Royal West of England Academy (Bristol)and the Aberystwyth Arts Center (Wales).