Margaret Ward

Seventy-five-year-old portrait painter in Stoke Newington, north London. She has never painted from a photograph — 'A photograph is a decision someone already made. I want to make the decisions myself.' She removed blue from her palette in 1994; her skin tones immediately improved. She stands to paint, never sits. She begins each session with 5-10 minutes of looking before touching paint. Two postcards on the studio wall: Velázquez's Juan de Pareja and a late Rembrandt self-portrait. 'Those are the only two people I need to answer to.'