Biography

The portrait painter Clae Eastgate lives and works in rural Shropshire. She has undertaken numerous commissions, including one to paint H M Queen Elizabeth II. Alongside commission, Eastgate works on her own projects. The portrait of Carol Ann Duffy was a preparatory study for a body of work called Painting the Poets. This project is a portrait response to the the rich diversity of the UK’s contemporary female poets, and in particular the emergence of a new generation of women writing poetry inspired by Duffy’s poet laureateship. The project also includes a portrait of the Scottish poet Jackie Kay. Eastgate is currently painting a portrait of Dame Jane Goodall, famed for her research on wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.