The portraits that I produce vary a lot, in the past I would draw portraits of friends and family because I thought that it was a good starting point in making portraiture. Now, I have been creating portraits of famous people and distorted portraits that were made through my imagination, where I would make the face, then using brush marks that would cover features on the face, which enabled me to slightly distort the portrait. The viewer would still be able to see a person in the painting. I make these portraits because I enjoy the process of it all and like to see the final forms of my work.

I feel that making portraits is the best way I can do art and I do not typically have a meaning behind my work, but have recently tried to start projects that do mean something because it may give people a reason to take an interest in my art. I have grown up in a family that loves art, my Dad used to have a strong interest in drawing and this has carried over to me. I created portraits at a young age and have just stuck with this passion of mine. When it comes to mediums when producing work, I tend to use mainly acrylic paint and oil pastel, however I would really like to expand on the different mediums and experiment with biro pens, making similar portraits to Vince Low as I love the way he creates these scribbles that turn out to be detailed depictions of people.

 I get my ideas mainly from portrait artists that I have seen online, the likes of Mike Rachlis and Anthony Rondinone. Mike Rachlis work is created in a very expressive way as he uses large brush marks and colour in places that would not need bright colours to make his portraits. He painted landscape portraits that have encouraged me to create my own take on them. When looking at Rondinone’s work, he portrays these powerful cartoon characters in an abstract sort of way which leaves them distorted by using the same colour scheme as the character and splatting paint down on the canvas in a way that you can still make out who they are, which makes them so special. He motivated me to research into cartoon art and bring that into my practice. With this idea I created paintings of cartoon characters in a similar way.

My most recent project is named ‘Inspiration Studies’. My intention was to create portraits of my followers’ inspirations using pencil and oil pastel. White oil pastel was used to colour in the light parts of the portrait and to add that extra detail. I would ask my followers who their inspiration was in the public eye, next, I would create the portraits to, in a way give back to my followers and interact with them through my art.

 I love to change my methods and when I find inspiration, I will try to make a set of paintings that look separate from the previous works I did. I can get tired of painting in the same way, and altering the way I make portraits helps me to carry on making. My art is for everyone to view, and I would like to see the various perceptions that my following has of my work. Leaving them with my ideas on their mind and take inspiration from my art.