Here's a self portrait of me in a bar in Seattle.

It's one of first figures I've ever done. I did it quite quickly. In less than a couple of hours.

I've been working on the best ways to lay out my canvas before painting, and I had a bit of a breakthrough with this one. For a year or so, I kept thinking I needed begin certain paintings with a pencil sketch. (Not for all subjects, just for ones I would find especially daunting.) But being that I'm the time to paint quite thick, I realized the pencil was too difficult to follow. And I found the whole process tedious and restrictive. It was taking away from some of the expression of the work. I instead painted a quick sketch with some burnt umber, and then coloured in with this one. It won't be the only method I will follow from now on, but it made me realize some things. The quicker you can get our work on canvas, the better it seems to come together. Once you have the proper construct of the painting, you can take you time on the colours and brush strokes. For me the best paintings are ones that you can interpret in a literal way, but you know that they are paintings.
What makes a good painting? This is a question I'm always asking myself.



This one is not the greatest little piece in the world. The brush strokes are messy, the shaded area aren't right. (Maybe I should have use some blue/ purple?) I could got on, but this one represents a breakthough for me.