Flesh has gone.

300 x 230 cm
Mixed media on canvas

Face to face with MissT

The perils of blogging portraits is that clients are appalled to see how unflattering they can look during this process. A portrait is a concoction of many ingredients. It can require a good physical likeness so good draftsmanship is the first on the list. Achieving this is, for me, a process of exploration. Slowly and after some contemplation an image appears. Some of the mark making is structure for further work and at other times this structure fails and is removed. A portrait is a narrative about a person and as with all good story telling not all details need to be used and those that are used are important to the ending.

Flesh has gone. Work in process.

Miss T shows her bottom

"The Queen's Head Artists"

"The Queen's Head Artists" exhibition has been hung. This shows the work of five local artists including me. Our work will be on display in the small bar which is open in the evenings. I can be seen having a drink here on Friday evenings.

Miss T looks out

I think this painting is, at long last, beginning to settle down. Miss T's face has begun to look like her.

Thinking

"Not a five o'clock shadow!"

Miss T's face is now being painted in at long last. I must confess to anxiety painting my friend because it has become important that she likes the results. This anxiety keeps clouding my judgment. So I resolve to paint the best I can and try and put aside the issue of flattery.