How I saw the eighties

I recently sold a painting I had never shown to anyone outside my wife. When I went painting full-time I honed my skills in oil painting by painting in a representitive style. I painted this image of a favourite pair of Ray Bans I owned in the eighties. I had long ago lost them but bought a new pair last summer and had pulled the painting out of storage to look at it once more. A collector was around at my studio and asked to see some of my recent work and spotted this painting leaning up against a wall and she fell in love with it - she called me back the next day and purchased it. I've put a few of those early paintings in the archives section, as you can see my work today bears little resemblance to those paintings, however, they were very important in my development.

Pink Lady

I love and fear painting these portraits. Most of my portraits are painted in a single session on textured white paper or on a painted background. Like an athlete preparing for an event I practice many times before I start to paint. I try to capture the essence of the face as simply and with as few lines as possible. At first glance it may seem underdone but on subsequent viewings the depth of character grows. The image will not date or become stale because you will become more awear of the personality of the subject the more you live with the painting.