A BRADFORD photographer who was furloughed from her day job has been creating free rainbow portraits to spread joy on social media.
Amy Pugh, who lives in Wibsey, uses bright rainbow colours to paint Bradfordians in the hopes they will use the designs as their profile pictures and fill social media algorithms with happiness.
Amy has now turned her hobby into a make-believe career to keep her entertained and busy during the coronavirus lockdown.
And it seems to be a huge success, having illustrated many local and well-known faces across the district.
The illustrator, who shares all the pieces on her Instagram @amypugh89, has been forced to put a temporary holt on her orders to deal with their rising popularity and give herself a break.
Amy, who edits and retouches photos for a vintage fashion company, told the Telegraph & Argus: “I’ve done a few self portraits before using Adobe Illustrator. Then I started one of myself and thought I’ll do one for someone because they’re kind of down in the dumps.
“When I’d done about two or three I had people saying ‘I want one’, ‘I’d like one’.
“I started making a list because it did go from friends to friends of friends. It was taking about six or seven hours a day.
“It kept me busy which was a good thing. The last two or three weeks I’ve been making it my full time job!
“It’s something people can have forever. A lot of people have been printing them or sending them to loved ones.
“I’m encouraging people to use them as their Facebook profile pictures and on other social media platforms to see if I can fill Facebook with fun Rainbow Portraits. Something to brighten people’s day.”
One of Amy’s most popular portraits was the prime minister Boris Johnson after the news came that he was admitted to ICU at St Thomas’ Hospital in London last week.
His colourful portrait was shared more than 300 times online.
Her illustrations include Bradfordians from all walks of life including ‘Josh’, a bartender from Bingley.
Amy added: “I want to characterise them and look at pictures of them and do the makeup how they would do it.
“This is a service I would probably usually charge for.
“Keep your chin up and keep going. I’ve just done that to share a bit of love.”
When asked for her happiness advice, she simply said: “Keep yourself in a routine if you’re not working.”
The entire collection of Rainbow Portraits is on Instagram.
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