FINISHED PAINTING

Self-portrait, oil, 15¾ 11¼in (40 30cm).

I prefer my paintings to retain a painterly quality, so I err away from over-working the detail, particularly on the hair and clothing. I sometimes leave different colours juxtaposed quite crudely next to each other rather than smoothing everything out. However, for certain areas of the painting I will blend or blur the edges where appropriate, noticing where there are soft and hard edges in the image that help to build a sense of focus, bringing some areas forward and pushing other areas back. Here I blended the smooth cheek, noticing where there were hard and soft edges, but left visible juxtapositions of different colours in some areas to retain a painterly quality. I will also sometimes work up thin glazes of paint to enrich and unify the painting. I do this particularly on areas where the face is in shadow where the observed colour has a depth and complexity to it which is difficult to convey with a single application of paint. In the final stages of the painting, I balanced tone and colour in the figure and background, toning down some of the highlights and colours until I was happy with the likeness and impression of light