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Why do I like painting portraits?
Wanting to know more about painting, I took up portraiture as, I suppose, a kind of test. I feel successful depiction of the human form is one of the ultimate expressions of painting and drawing, so pursuing this would indeed be a real gauge of my progression as a painter. So, being a beginner in both method and theory you can see my first attempts were principally about representation. I was learning on the job.
Now I am trying to do a lot more, I hope. My pictures are biographical, painted as a response to my perception of the sitters personality. I try to create a sense of presence, as though one is in the room with them, both as a particular individual and generically as another human being. This distinction into two tiers, as it were, is important to me, as almost every one viewing the painting will know nothing personal about the sitter, but will have met quite a few humans by now! This, the most amazing thing about portraits is their reminder of our shared humanity. Since ancient people first drew each other, to the present time, portraits have eloquently told us what it is like to be; so telling of the dramas and possibilities of a life thus depicted.
I am keen to follow this tradition.