I painted my first clutch of portraits at the age of 15 or so, at which time I was mostly interested in finding something I was better at than my classmates. I was lucky, as there were only two of them. Portraits became my niche in a dreary Norfolk school, and I whiled away hours that may have been better spent studying something else, perched on a hewn piece of tree trunk that had been hauled into the art studio for some forgotten woodworking project by a previous student.
I produced at that time a few pieces that I'm still immensely proud of, such as the examples included in this post. Though the brushwork is sloppy, the use of formal elements pretty uninspired and the themes worked on mostly derivative, I have to remind myself that I was no older than 16 when I finished these. I'm sure Raphael was much better at that age than I was, but he'd never suffered English secondary education. Also, it's not fair to compare yourself to others.
This post is more than an excuse to reminisce on things that I think I've achieved. I want to, by introducing my paintings post by post, to see if I can't notice something about my own development as a painter that I haven't seen before. It's impossible to say what the next step as a painter will be, but by looking back I might be able to see how the road has forked and twisted this far. Thanks
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