My new portrait

For several weeks now I've been sitting for my portrait. I met the artist, Charlie Schaffer, through my daughter Maria, and was very impressed by his work. He's still relatively new, but passionately committed, not only to painting, but to portraiture. Being painted by him - six sessions, each about three hours, was a fascinating process. He started work not by roughly sketching my whole head, but by painting one small part of one eye. He says his entire technique is based on close looking. Little by little a part of my nose appeared, then part of the other eye. The extraordinary thing was, I could recognise myself even in such a fragment. You can take a look by clicking on the button below, or by going to the Bio page on this site.

I like the finished result very much.  It makes me see myself differently. I've never really stared intently at my own face - like everyone, I find too much to dislike - but after being stared at so closely by Charlie, I find he's done the job for me, and now there it is: squinty-eyed blodgy-faced me, but thoughtful-looking, I think, and quite definitely real. I don't know how they do it, but good artists convey breathing life, and I think Charlie is very good. So if any of you want a portrait, get on to him before his prices shoot out of sight. Click on his name above the portrait on this site, and it'll take you to his website.