Lady Natalie is the owner of one cigar house in Town Hall Square, in old city Tallinn, in the capital city of Estonia. The father of that young woman is a wealthy Russian businessman and it was he was who hired me to paint his daughter. I was fascinating about the story: father and daughter are visiting the cigar messes around the world, also in Cuba and other places, every year, to find out how the cigars have been made. For example, Natalie told me how women in old cigar factories are rolling the cigars on their sweaty tights. By the way, I have seen Natalie enjoying smoking cigar herself with great satisfaction.

When painting is being born, I go deep inside to the painting process to describe the person. I describe him or her but I don’t give my valuation. I describe him or her in a way as I would pour the water from one vessel to another. Only when time has passed am I able to analyze the sitter. And also today I would leave the understanding of my model to the audience.