Self Portrait number 2 (2021)Oil painting
by James Earley

I am proud and honoured that my "Self Portrait number 2" has been long listed for the prestigious 2021 Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize.

I painted my self portrait during a difficult time in my life. I wanted to know how the process of painting my portrait would affect me in such a state. As I painted I crumbled emotionally. I do not know if that was a process of cleansing oneself mentally, I just know that the experience of painting this was traumatic, harrowing.
Painting has always been the thing that calms the stormy sea of my mind. I wanted to show a paintbrush in the foreground, a saviour yet blurred.

I wanted to paint my self portrait in a realism style using oil paints on canvas.
I primed the canvas in red paint and started building the layers of the oil painting initially using large brushes and gradually decreasing the size of the brushes until I used single hair brushes for the smallest of detail.
"Self Portrait number 2" is an original oil painting and it is unique as there are no prints. The painting will come with a signed certificate of authenticity and is framed in a hand crafted frame and it will be tracked and insured during delivery.

Materials used:

oil paint

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 61 x 86 x 5cm (framed) / 51 x 76cm (actual image size)
• Framed and ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Photorealistic
• Subject: People and portraits

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