About ten years ago I was doing watercolour portraits by commission. I did fairly well. Since returning to painting after my hiatus, during which I worked with fibre and did costumes, my focus has been mostly oil and some graphite. I would like to explore the possibility of once again doing portraits, but this time in oil. To brush up I thought I would work on one from a photo I have. It is being painted on a 12x12 canvas. Due to composition and design the face is slightly larger than life size. Herein lies my challenge, being slightly larger but not greatly bigger than life size my brain is constantly telling me the eye is too big or the nose.......A 10x10 would have been better. The young girl I am painting has a slightly asymmetrical smile. I had it beautifully painted but realized I had painted it too small. So out it came. Working with oil it is easier to take things and push things around out while wet than to paint over when dry. Bed came very late or early depending how you view it. All in all not bad for a days painting. I will leave it for a few days while I work on some other projects.
'Hamming It Up for the Camera'. 
