Steely determination

‘It has been a real privilege to be involved with the family portrait project,” says Mark.

“Meeting Helen and sitting for the initial pencil sketch gave me an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on my role in a family business and the challenges and opportunities of balancing family and business.

“The Armstrong Watson team has provided invaluable support over many years helping us achieve personal and business success and it has been an exciting time working closely with our Cumbrian friends and colleagues at CN Group.

“The value of images is becoming increasingly important in our private and work lives and following on from our involvement in this project we are now making much more use of visuals within the business including the imminent launch of our internal JWL TV media and team portraits.”

Helen says: “I tend to let sitters sit however they feel comfortable. I was really pleased when Mark put himself in a pose with his arms stretched out across the sofa arms. It meant the sun coming down from the sky light spread right across him, and it created this great composition, where Mark stretches out to all sides of the canvas.

“I remember it was snowing on the second day of the portrait and I came away from that sitting feeling very enthused. Mark’s positive attitude was very infectious.”

<center><b>Click on the pictures below to see the completed portraits:</b></center>