Oliver Shepherd Maestro (portrait of Jessica Cottis)

An Australian based in London, Jessica Cottis conducts orchestras around the world. She is the chief conductor and artistic director of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Oliver Shepherd’s friend, an oboist in the orchestra, suggested he paint Cottis. Given tickets to her concert, he was enthralled by her conducting, and they arranged to meet.

‘My formative years were spent as a musician, so we had much to talk about,’ says Shepherd, a first-time Archibald finalist. ‘Jessica experiences synaesthesia, “hearing” colours like viridian and electric blue, which I was keen to reference in my portrait of her.

‘The light and shadow on the concrete background direct us to three focal points – her face, baton and score – exploring how the conductor communicates with her orchestra.’

Shepherd chose the pose after sketching Cottis at rehearsals. ‘Whenever she paused to articulate her musical ideas, she rested her baton vertically on the score, as if to draw music up from the page into the baton itself. It was commanding, like a painter loading their brush before lunging towards a canvas.

‘Complementing Jessica’s career is her lifelong study of butterflies. Her favourite, the Ulysses, always draws her thoughts back to Australia,’ says Shepherd, which is why he has included one in the portrait.