Mills dismayed by 'stern' portrait

Heather Mills has left a British artist broken-hearted after complaining she looks too "stern" in a portrait commissioned to raise money for charity.

Painter Sarah McDonald felt the seven-foot (2.1-metre) high picture, which was to be auctioned in aid of Mills' landmine charity, was her finest work to date.

However, the estranged wife of Paul McCartney insisted it did little to break the British media's portrayal of her as "hard and cold".

According to British newspaper the Daily Mirror, she said: "I just don't think I look very kind. As the press portray me as hard and cold, I'm not keen on the sternness of it.

"Aside from that, it is a masterpiece. Well done."

McDonald says: "It was the longest I had ever spent on a painting and I was really proud of it.

"As it was for charity I wanted to make Heather look determined and ready to spring into action.

"Unfortunately, she did not seem as keen on the finished painting as I was."