Hashim Akib's demo and my self portrait!

Friday night, I met up with fellow blogger Sharon, and we went to watch professional artist Hashim Akib demonstrate how to make portraits in acrylic.

It was a fascinating night, He painted a portrait from a male model who was sitting in front of him, in under two hours!
All through the demo, Hash ( as he likes to be called) talked to us and told us some snippets from his artistic career. How he used to paint in a very realistic fashion, but was turned down flat by galleries who wanted more "gutsy" paintings.

He told us not to make a drawing - it encourages you to be logical and realistic - and then you fiddle. Look for interesting tones and shapes instead.
He told us to use flat brushes, and be bold in our strokes, so we would not fiddle.
He told us that photos flatten colour, so try to paint from life - it adds passion!

His acrylics were laid down thick - impasto.  I did wonder if I could utilise his technique in watercolour - and I determined to give it a go!

So this morning, while all else were abed and couldn't laugh at me, I attempted a self portrait. Like Hash - no drawing *eek* that bit is scary!
Here it is:

For a first attempt, I'm pretty happy with this. Yes, there are bits that could be improved - but I'm not going back in to fiddle. No, its not spot on to how I look, but its reasonable. This was done to try out the technique and see if I could use it on watercolour. I reckon I could - and even take more risks yet.