Portrait from Uganda | Private Collector's Club | Lorraine Field

The first of these portraits began with her eyes.

There was something in the little girl's face and the way she looked directly out at me that I couldn't ignore. I knew I wanted to paint her.

The second caught my attention for a completely different reason.

It was the little boy's expression of sheer concentration.

He reminded me so much of my own children when they were small. Those moments when they became completely absorbed in whatever they were doing and, for a while, the rest of the world disappeared.

It made me think about what that kind of absorption might mean for these children.

They may have very little in the way of material possessions, but they have art. They can draw, create and become completely engrossed in something of their own making.

Perhaps, for a little while, nothing else matters.

I began painting the boy while I was working as 'Artist in Residence' at the Stratford-upon-Avon Society of Artists annual exhibition at King Edward VI School, then finished him at home.

Rather wonderfully, the Ugandan children tried to WhatsApp call me last week and I missed them!

We're arranging another call. I can't wait to 'meet' them properly and, hopefully, show them the paintings they've inspired.

There are more portraits I want to paint.

For now, these are the first two.