I had mentioned how I wanted to try painting—my art teacher suggested I do another self-portrait, except instead of in pencil, painted.  I had imagined it would be immensely more difficult than it actually was, but I am in no way saying that I thought it was easy.  The ability to mix a color and at a later time recreate it was difficult, and sometimes didn’t work too well for me.  Before starting I sat down and browsed through piles of self-portraits done by artists.  The ones that caught my attention were those where the artist had his or herself in a particular atmosphere, and included the surroundings.  I immediately began pondering how I might incorporate my woodworking background.  I feel I did this successfully.  This painting was done with acrylic paint, and has pleased me very much.  I spent five days a week for four weeks working on this painting, an hour or two a day.  This is acrylic on canvass, 14” x 22.”