About Self-Portrait

Here I am, sitting on a handmade willow sofa in my livingroom, amongst some of my favourite things. I wanted this self-portrait to reflect me in my natural home environment. I also wanted to give a feel of who I am, by showing some of the things that delight and inspire me. The huge philodendron speaks to my love of plants. Behind me, in what I refer to as my ‘altar alcove’, are some of my prized ceramic possessions. On the sofa, you can see my love for interesting global prints… this example is an African tribal black & white print, that I have draped over my willow sofa. Of course, the wonderful shapes and imperfections of the willow also figure heavily in what I find aesthetically beautiful. You can see a taste of my coral-salmon coloured wall in the background: I love rich colour, and I hope that my self-portrait accurately reflects this.

About Chalk Pastels

I used a very “toothy” paper for this self-portrait. The effect of this paper, using chalk pastels, gives a very different look and feel from the other chalk pastel drawings in this section. It is wonderful, I feel, to be able to paint with the chalk pastels while still giving evidence of the textural qualities of the paper. I find this especially satisfying when painting objects with natural textural qualities, such as a fabric texture (the black and white African print, seen here), or the woody willow loveseat. This innate quality of chalk pastels — the ability to reveal, rather than obscure, the ‘toothiness’ and grain of the paper — breathes life into textural objects.