I will be showing two works, Couple (1990) and Woman Cradling Glass Vessel (2010) in the exhibition 'Family, familiar' at the Gallery at the Discovery Centre in Winchester, 22nd March-11th May 2014. Described by the gallery as.....

Film director Wes Anderson approached me in 2012 to paint a fictional Re­nais­sance portrait to be titled 'Boy with Apple' for his next film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The plot pivots around the theft and recovery of a priceless portrait by Renaissance master Johannes Van Hoytl. Intrigued by the script.....

On 12th of November the world lost a truly unique personality and composer, and I lost a very dear friend and neighbour. John had that rare quality of a formidable intellect combined with a child's trusting heart, and the combination could be devastating. I had painted a portrait of this lovely, impossible, brilliant, difficult, kind and often very funny man in 2001 for the National Portrait Gallery, and although we stayed in touch, it was only since ......

A new still life, Broken Camera with Red Curtain, will join two other recent works at the forthcoming mixed exhibition of contemporary still life painting at Waterhouse and Dodd in Cork Street, London. The show will be the last at their Cork Street premises before the gallery moves to a new space in Albermarle Street (due to the controversial Cork Street redevelopment).

The exhibition opens on 15th May, and runs until 7th June. A PDF of the catalogue (6.2 MB: requires Adobe Reader) is available. Other artists featured ....

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham will be showing Michael's portrait of Sir John Tavener as part of a collection of portraits of 20th century composers. The exhibition, a joint project with the National Portrait Gallery titled "Facing the Music", will be formally opened by Michael on 24th May and will run from 25th May- 27th August 2012.

Michael's portrait of jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard is on show as part of an exibition called "Local Heroes" which showcases the Holburne Museum Portrait Prize commissions, and runs from 21st April-24th June 2012.

Piano Pieces has been shortlisted for the Lynn Painter-Stainers prize 2012. The exhibition of this year's finalists, which is free, can be seen at the Mall Galleries from 28th March until 5th April, and then later from 23rd-27th April at WH Patterson Gallery in Albemarle Street, London.

Self Portrait (In Memory of my Father) was acquired by The National Portrait Gallery, London in February, 2012. It joins their collection of artists' self portraits.

Following the collapse of the DSB Bank owned by Dirk Scheringa, it's main creditor, ABN Amro, seized the entire collection, which had been used to raise money for the construction of the now nearly completed new 38 million euro museum building.

"....they came like thieves in the night", said tearful museum staff.

The first four months of the year have been spent creating a Self Portrait with Grave Goods (and shaving mirror). It formed the culmination of six years of non stop work which provided the content for my two one man shows at Waterhouse and Dodd, interspersed with one or two portrait commissions. I saw this self portrait, a commission from a Turkish collector, as a chance to reflect on this period and finally dump myself and a collection of redundant props and metaphoric objects in the attic tomb, and seal the entrance.