Not Dark Yet
Oil on Linen
60cm x 80cm
After a year of ill-health, and over eight months of no painting, I finally returned to my easel and made a new painting.
A subject for my work eluded me; I spent most of the last year sitting staring out of the window – or at the television – my horizons have been narrowed to a frightening degree and I have felt bored and uninspired. However television came to my rescue; watching Portrait Artist of the Year on Sky Arts I became inspired to attempt a self-portrait. NOT as a precursor to entering the competition, but as a partially academic exercise in an attempt to revive my painterly muscles – both figuratively and literally.
I also reasoned that if the self-portrait was good enough subject for e.g. Rembrandt and Hockney (and I’m not including myself in their company), then it’s certainly good enough for me.
As for the title, ‘Not Dark Yet’, here’s Bob: