World champion swimmer Hannah Miley came face to face with a life-size portrait of herself after it was unveiled in Aberdeen yesterday.
Robert Gordon University commissioned the portrait to mark Miley’s success in the pool and invited Aberdeen painter and Gray’s School of Art graduate Stuart Allan to work on the project.
The painting, measuring almost two metres square, captures Olympian Miley poised to dive into a swimming pool.
It was unveiled at the reception of RGU: SPORT, where it will remain on display, in front of invited guests from the north-east’s sporting, arts and business communities.
Miley, who will be hoping to defend her gold medal in the 400m individual medley at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, said: “It was a lot of fun working with Stuart on the project.
“He has done a fantastic job and the portrait is incredibly lifelike. Seeing how the painting developed has been a fascinating experience and I couldn’t be happier with the result.
“I still train at RGU: SPORT and to see it each time I come in will give me a great lift as I continue to improve my performance in the pool.”
Allan, 29, said: “This was a very exciting project to work on and I jumped at the chance to show what I could do.
“The portrait was a joy to work on and once we decided on what pose to develop for the final painting it didn’t take too long for the final piece to take shape.
“I love working on portraits of those who inspire me and projects like these are a great way to recognise the achievements of the subject and bring them together with an artist.”