3 Mordants

The portrait is titled 3 Mordants. It was painted by Adam Cullen in 2011. The work is oil on canvas and measures approximately one-point-eight metres tall by one-point-eight metres wide.

The portrait is in bright, heightened pastel colours applied in broad brushstrokes with streaks of paint dripping down the canvas. The style is flat and simplified, the forms outlined in black. Three people are featured, from the waist up. Catriona and Simon Mordant, fair haired and grey haired respectively, side by side in the middle ground. Their dark-haired grownup son Angus’ face is popping up behind them in the centre of the composition. They all look towards us smiling broadly.

They stand as though bathed in a strong light. Angus’ forehead, the skin around all of their eyes, the smile-lines on all three cheeks and jaws and creases in fabrics are accentuated in whites and light grey as though the strength of the light trained on their features is washing away colour and detail.

On the left of the painting Catriona is shown with voluminous layered shoulder length, white-blond hair. The front sweeps up and over her forehead. Her skin glows with an orange tan. Bright green eyes look out through round-rimmed glasses. Her crimson lips are closed and smiling. Her small chin recedes into her neck, encircled in a bulky bright-pink scarf. Light from above catches on the scarf turning it a deep pink around her throat and a much lighter pale pink in the knotted folds on her chest. Beneath her scarf she wears a lilac top.

She stands shoulder to shoulder with her husband Simon. Immediately to the right, in the centre of the painting but behind Catriona, is her son Angus. He has short spiky dark hair. His face is round with tanned skin. Angus has dark defined eyebrows and light brown eyes. His lips are the same bright red as his mother and father’s, held in a big smile. His white teeth are showing and below his mouth is a double chin. Angus has a white collar above the suggestion of a black suit jacket.

Simon is on the right with his shoulder pressed against his wife’s and his head at a similar height to both Catriona and Angus’. He has thick silver-grey hair combed up and off his forehead. Simon’s round face has a similar orange glow to his family members’ with a slightly redder tinge. He has greying eyebrows and his light brown eyes are wide open, looking up and slightly to the left. Simon’s mouth smiles widely; his lips are full and curving revealing the top row of teeth. He has a large double chin accentuated in light grey against his orange tan. His neck is pale. Simon wears a vibrant orange top with a high open collar. Triangular orange shadows stand out under the large folds of his collar above his wide chest,

In the foreground are two cats. In the centre sits a smooth-coated white cat. Its face is almost in profile directed towards the right of the image. It has large pointy ears with pink sides, a sleek, fine-featured face and a prominent brow. Its eyes are downcast, whiskers splayed, mouth closed and drawn up into a slight curve.

On the far right of the painting is a dark red-brown cat with textured fur and pale highlighting. It is facing forward with large pointy ears. Its eyes are closed. Its forelegs extend towards its feline companion and the rest of its body is cropped by the right edge of the image.

Audio description script written and voiced by Lucinda Shawcross