I have always been a fan of the idiosyncratic art championed by Portal Painters. We have three teenaged sons all careering

   towards manhood, and it occurred to me one day that the traditional image of The Fool in the Tarot captured precisely and

   poetically the truth about young men: their charm, debonair energy and fecklessness.

             'The Fool' commissioned oil/panel  25 x 20 cms                                'Rossettis Menagerie' oil/panel  20 x 25 cms

   Having sought without success for a poster of The Fool, I sought an artist to commission a painting. It was quickly apparent

   that Frances Broomfield was that artist. Her intensely coloured, almost jewel-like pictures convey a sense of myth and

   archetype in a beautiful yet humorous way. Even where the subject is static, her work has a strong narrative: she tells a

   story. Accordingly I approached her, via the gallery, and after some discussion, she produced the gorgeous Fool who now

   hangs at the top of the staircase - naturally - outside our eldest son's bedroom door. Frances' Fool is a modern youth in his

   dress, but in other respects remains the archetypal Fool, head in air. stepping gaily and heedlessly over the precipice as he

   reaches for a butterfly, his little dog barking alongside. It is an image of great beauty, power and fun.

           'Tobias & The Angel'                                          'Petrushka'                                                   'Ram with the Golden Fleece'