I have completed a portrait of Western Australian politician John Hyde. He's been really open-minded about embracing this process. Working directly with people engaged in politics forms a part of my next exhibition, which inserts poetry and literary metaphor into public life. In the space of a few months, John really opened up to the creative process.

Significantly, John is also the first openly gay directly elected Mayor; and first openly gay directly elected (non-Upper House) parliamentarian in Australia. Before entering Parliament, John worked as a stage actor in New Orleans in the 1990s. I asked him to sit because my new series is delving into the nature of our political projections and the painting links between the 1860s and the present using roles from Julius Caesar as played by the Booth brothers of the 1800s.

I must thank American actor/writer Rodney Lee Rogers from PURE Theatre in Charleston for helping me to develop this part of the painting. John and I were really happy with the way it turned out and decided to enter the painting into the Archibald Prize 2010.