"Portraiture requires a good command of all techniques in painting and it also reflects the history, culture and even economy of the time of the sitter.

"I decided to paint my good friend Michael Wiesel as he was such an interesting character. He arrived in Australia, aged seven, when his Jewish family fled from Germany. He later followed his father's career of watchmaker.

"Wealthy, but with no family - his wife died ten years ago and they had no children - he spent a lot of time at concerts and in art galleries, but he never escaped the sense of pain, loneliness and sadness brought about by the horrors of World War II, the holocaust and subsequent family tragedies. I sought to capture the sum total of his life's experiences which ultimately shaped the features and character of this man.

"Michael died of a sudden heart attack the night the portrait was completed."