Self Portrait

After a busy couple of weeks painting commissions for a new album, I didn't have very much time left to produce this self portrait that is my entry for the Sky arts portrait of the year competition. Luckily they extended the deadline for entries. I wanted to try something a little different this time around, I have always loved creating monochrome style paintings, there is a wealth of 'colour' in black and white, and you can produce some lovely light and shade using just black an white. 

I wanted to change the composition slightly, so rather than me looking at the viewer, I decided to look at my own reflection. For me this created an eery feeling which posed a lot of questions while painting it. I have recently been learning about eastern philosophy based of Tao and Buddhism which opens the door to how we look at ourselves in relation to the world we live in. The question is, are we connected as one or is it our own ego that creates the illusion that we are separate from nature? I think people are at varying levels and understandings of this concept. I like to feel that this comes through in the painting. In a society where vanity and how we present ourselves seem to dominate our everyday lives, how does this effect the way we look at the world we live in.

The painting took just over 6 hours to do and I do wish I had longer, but I think the added pressure helped me push through the idea. I shall wait and see what happens with the entry.