“Frederick Varley was a painter known for his landscape paintings, but he also completed numerous portraits. This one in particular, entitled Vera, intrigued me because of its use of colour. The greens, blues, yellows, and pinks are dispersed everywhere on the subject. These are the colours that certain portraitists do not emphasize, but that Varley wanted to reinforce. As well, the work has an Impressionist side in the way that the stroke is brought to the fore. I wanted to make all of this stand out in my own work. My digital illustration represents a woman looking at the spectator from the corner of her eye. What is she thinking? Her thoughts are surrounding her in lines and colours. They dance, mix, and melt together. Finally, without being able to decipher them, we find ourselves fixed by her piercing gaze.”
—Naomi van de Hoef (Grade 12, École publique secondaire De La Salle, Ottawa, Ontario)

F.H. (Frederick Horsman) Varley (1881–1969) produced a number of portraits of his muse, Vera (Olivia) Weatherbie (1909–1977), an artist in her own right.