The portrait is titled Social currency (Eva Cox). It was painted by Kim Spooner in 1999, with encaustic on canvas. The portrait measures 1.8 metres tall by 1.6 metres wide and is unframed.
Eva is painted realistically. The colours are blended, smudging together, the shading making Eva appear rounded and three dimensional. The encaustic media creates a smooth waxy effect.
Eva’s smiling face takes up most of the canvas. She is cropped at her shoulders on either side and just below her shoulders at the bottom edge. Only a small amount of dark deep blue and rust-brown background is visible behind her.
Eva’s head is on a slight angle turned towards the right, her eyes looking towards the viewer. Her hair is parted at the side and tied back, with a small section at the front curving around her forehead then down, following the shape of and finishing at her cheekbone. The rest of her hair is longer, the gentle waves flowing over the tops of her ears and drawn back loosely. Her hair is painted in golds and deeper bronzes, merging together and highlighted, where touched by the light, in silvery white.
Eva’s skin is a similar palette of silvery white, gold and grey-blues combining delicately in a silky glowing surface.
Eva has a smooth forehead interrupted by a fine vertical line between her eyebrows. Her eyebrows are dark, slender and partially covered by the oval frames of her glasses. From behind the lenses and beneath heavy lids, Eva’s eyes look directly towards us. Her irises are a golden amber with flecks of light making them sparkle. Under her eyes, soft folds of skin sit in half-moons.
Eva has a long, narrow nose with a turned-down tip. The bridge of her glasses rests up high on her nose while the bottom edge of their frames seems to press heavily on her cheeks, forming an indent where they rest on the soft skin.
Eva’s cheeks are rounded and firm at the top. Beneath, are small lines and dimples created by her broad grin. A deep crease runs beneath each cheek from the outer edges of her nose to the corners of her mouth.
Eva’s mouth is smiling in a wide closed smile. Her lips are shapely, the top thinner than her full bottom lip. Her lips are glossy and a warm coppery-brown.
Eva’s round chin is echoed by a second fold of skin framed by the upturned collar of her jacket. The jacket looks soft, made from thick plaid fabric, warm blue with a grid of black-edged pink-red stripes. The edge of the collar sits up and close to Eva’s jaw, the top buttons undone, creating a small ‘v’ at her neck. She wears a dark grey roll-necked top beneath.
Audio description written and read by Lucinda Shawcross
