Current events and a lot of news overload has taken its toll on me emotionally over the past few weeks. I thought my family and I were handling lockdown and our new normal quite well but the graphic videos of violence that you can’t escape in our 24-hour broadcasting culture was the straw that finally broke the camels back.

I felt the need to create something to expel the mass of energy building within me and to ground myself. That and meditation.

Sometimes the two - painting and meditation - are infact one in the same. I’m sure many artists atest to the fact they can get lost in the creative process; hours vanish without you realising.

I started on a canvas board I’d previously primed and toned with a grey gesso acrylic mix before sketching in the rough composition and proportions of my figure using a brush and very thinned down burnt sienna. On this occation I used Zest It it thin the paint instead of oil and started to rough in the composition.

Working in a darker shade, I began to calve out the angles and correctly position the head, shoulders and face.