Posts

Reflecting on my practice at the end of 2025

I have an upcoming opportunity to exhibit some work in Coventry as part of a portrait expo at LTB and it got me thinking about how my practice has developed and why I choose to draw and paint people more than anything else. And what’s all this partially obscured faces and fascination with masks about? They do say that art is therapy!

Why portraits?

The process of making portraits and figure studies provides me with a space to slow down and engage with the sitter, and the illusive nature of capturing a likeness is a challenge that never fails to intrigue me.

Every day we put on a mask (pass the war paint!) and every day the fear of the veneer cracking and the performance faltering can fill you with immobilising dread, (it does me anyway!).

We put on masks to tell stories, to become a character, to blend in or become someone else. But what lies beneath the mask?

Stop and look; no, really look….

In life we communicate and connect visually all the time, mimicking posture and body language in order to gain trust, fit in and survive. We need to be able to read another’s emotions and gauge their intentions, but how many ‘real’ connections can we cope with in a world full of strangers?

A portrait is able to give us that space; to see ourselves in others and share memories and experiences that resonate with us and connect us all emotionally.

Maybe that explains a little?