In the frame: Sturgeon hails life-size portrait of herself after sneak preview

FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is “very happy” with a new life-size portrait after getting a sneak preview of the artwork today.

Artist Gerard M Burns unveiled the painting at Bute House, the First Minister’s official residence in Edinburgh, where she saw it for the first time.

The portrait forms part of a wider exhibition by the artist which will be launched next month in New York for Scotland Week celebrations held in the US city.

A portrait of actress Elaine C Smith dressed in full pantomime costume features in the exhibition and she was given the first glimpse of it alongside Ms Sturgeon in the Bute House drawing room.

Other works include portraits of actors Ewan McGregor, Brian Cox and Alan Cumming, and comedian Billy Connolly.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I think it is a fantastic painting, put aside what people think of me in the painting – that’s for other people to judge.

“Gerard is such an amazing artist and I guess what I was looking at was not just how I look in the painting, although I think it captures me pretty well, but it is all the incredible detail around it from the Raeburn of Niel Gow to some of the intricate details of the surroundings.”

The portrait, which was painted from a photograph taken in the same room, sees Ms Sturgeon in the red dress she wore on the day she was voted in as First Minister in November last year.

Artist Burns said: “I decided I wanted to do something that celebrated the various aspects of who she is.

“The fact that she is the first female First Minister, her youth, her femininity, her confidence. So, I had a whole load of things that I wanted this painting to be.

“The photo session is crucial, I had about an hour with her and at one point she stood watching me and I thought ‘that’s it, that’s the shot, it’s perfect’.”

Gerard Burns has already had several works painted for SNP leaders. The former First Minister Alex Salmond had his painting The Rowan installed in his office at the Scottish Parliament and also painted A New Journey, the image that appeared on his Christmas Card in 2009. He has also painted a portrait of Salmond.