"Pipe Smoking Man"

13.5 x 17.5 inches

Oil on linen

(sold)

This is one of two portrait paintings I'll be submitting next week for the Royal Scottish Academy's open exhibition which runs from the 12th November to 18th December in Edinburgh. It'll be my first time submitting work for this show so I don't really know what to expect. No doubt the standard of artwork will be high and the competition for selection pretty tough, but I'm staying hopeful at least.

I'm grateful to one of my customers who sent me a photograph of his friend whose portrait he thought I'd be interested in painting, and whose fascinating features and obvious character became the inspiration for the painting.

For those who are interested, the painting is done on a very fine weave Italian linen. It's a lovely (and expensive!) surface, but its smoothness took a bit of getting used to since most of my paintings are done on a more textured canvas. I'd certainly use it again, but perhaps not for portrait work. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with how the painting turned out. I don't recall exactly how many hours went into it, but it certainly felt like a lot!

I'll post up my second submission next week.