2. Oils

This month I’m capturing another favourite subject in mixed media: the human head. I was lucky enough to have Aonghas MacNeacail, the wonderful poet and songwriter from the Isle of Skye, as my sitter. I love his shock of white hair, the bushy brows over earnest eyes, and his wonderful capacity for weaving a tale out of thin air – all wonderful attributes for an artist’s model.

In this series, I want to give special mention to a particular medium and this month it’s the turn of oil paint. Oil paint has such weight and substance, from Rembrandt’s lacy collars to Lucian Freud’s fleshy nudes. There is a lush, buttery feel to it that is second to none. It sings out from the matt surface of dry acrylic paint and the