First Oil Painting Monstrosity

I don't think I've posted this here yet... good reason why really! I've been to the Illustration Master Class in Amherst twice now. The first time as a solitary Brit, the second with my chum and artist extraordinaire Mr Jonny Duddle. The IMC is a great week long course with some top notch illustrators. Initially I went with the noble intent of learning oils, only having played with them a bit at college about !!!??? years ago. However, IMC is not the place to learn a new medium. It is the place to get great feedback and all sorts of ace help from other artists, but you're better off going with with a medium you're familiar with or at least have SOME understanding of. Anyway, my ambitious plans to be socially aware and produce a contemporary Joan of Arc (the option I chose) went pear shaped when the sketch I did was too ambiguous. In the end I narrowed it down to a 'portrait' just as an experiment with oils. This was the result. My 'first' oily mess.

Looking at it again, it has its moments, somewhere, sort of... At least it was easy to get in my luggage and back to the UK as it's pretty small. I've set up my studio to do another, that I posted about a bit ago... but I've been distracted since.

Oil on board, 8" x 10". Wow, that makes me sound like a 'proper' artist!