This one is from the year 2010. It spent several weeks on display at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida, for the National Art Exhibition 'Faces and Figures' exhibition in February 2013. The competition was fierce and came from across the USA, so I was rather amazed when it was selected for entry from several thousand applicants. 

 

It was my first self-portrait, and after a very grueling experience completing the painting, decided that it should better be my last. 

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I did the painting from a photo, taken whilst facing the big mirror in the bathroom. I wore an old knackered T-shirt bearing my faded 'Swampygit' nickname which I'd written with magic markers some years earlier.

 

I held the camera in hand, out at arm's length, but my fingers were not quite long enough for comfortably reaching the shutter button, which was in the wrong place for easy access. I had to carefully point the camera straight at my reflection in the mirror as I looked straight back at the camera lens being reflected in the mirror. The only lighting in the bathroom at the time was one ceiling light bulb. Not exactly a studio setup. 

 

It was awkward, tedious, and frustrating, and I became very wound-up and annoyed because I just couldn't get it right. In despair, and in an unconscious move, I held my hand to my forehead simply wondering what to do next. Absentmindedly I pressed the shutter button at that very moment, and captured the perfect pose, completely by accident.  I used that photo for the painting.

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As a facial expression, it nicely evinces my utter incredulity at this world we are living in, which for want of a better description resembles down to the minutest and most exquisite detail, a gigantic lunatic asylum.