I might not have a lot of craft mojo happening right now, except for a bit of embroidery while watching tv, but my painting mojo is going just fine.

I’ve been working on this portrait all year so far. Technically, it’s my second painting. I did a smaller version as a warm up after a long break from oils, and to work out an approach. There’s a tattoo, tshirt design and wall art still to be added.

Painting portraits is something I’ve wanted to do since I painted one of my ex many years ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of it before we split up, but I got such a feeling of satisfaction and fun from it that I wanted to do more.

But it takes confidence and courage to ask someone if you can paint their image. I haven’t had that until recently. In fact, this one will be finished soon, so I need to start looking for someone to be my second subject.

Portraiture might be a good Plan B for future middle-aged me. There’s a lot of uncertainty in publishing and bookselling right now. Nobody can predict what it will look like in five years, let alone ten. If it all goes belly up then, thinking in the terms of my last post, having an identity as an artist would soften the loss of an identity as a writer.

I also like the fact that, unlike with books, an original painting still has more value than copies. And the incentive to copy portraits is… well, unless it’s a portrait of a celebrity, only close friends and family of the subject might be tempted. Sure, people can paint fakes, but I’m never going to be famous enough that anyone would bother.