Go Paint Yourself

On the face of it self-portraiture may appear to some like an exercise in ego-mania.

I can see their point if the artist painted themselves in the nude with bulging biceps and a massive appendage. That would clearly be a classic case of 'look at me aren't I macho and virile'.

At university I did actually see a life-size nude self-portrait by a fellow student, a lot of detail, and hard work, had been put into the drawing of his penis.

What did that say about him? I dread to think.

Narcissism may be the motive for some artists but for many, past and present, and including me, it's a perfect way to experiment and express some deeper angst.

Rembrandt was the master of the self-portrait. Throughout his life he painted and drew perhaps around a hundred of them. Principally he did them to practice and perfect his painting skills but they also served another purpose - a visual autobiography.

Rembrandt's early self-portraits show a man at the height of his success; in some he looks a little cocky. His later works present a man who looks poor, lonely, unloved and perhaps slipping into dementia. They're heartbreaking.

I've painted quite a few self-portraits. None of them are particularly flattering but that's not my aim. With yourself you have a ready and willing model; a chance to try some new techniques – obviously, there’s always the possibility you could end up looking like John Prescott's scrotum.

So, how do you paint a self-portrait? Every portrait artist will have a different method and I have to admit, I don’t think you can teach art, just encourage it. Anyway, a few tips…

Decide what you want to say about yourself. Are you trying to explore your identity or express something that's happened to you? Can an object in your painting be a key to understanding what you’re trying to say, or what you fear? For example, a skull can often represent mortality.

Your expression can be the key to something you’re trying to communicate to the viewer. The self-portrait you can see on this page is about anguish and frustration but the story is ambiguous. I like to keep the viewer guessing.

You don't have to be particularly talented to create a self-portrait, or indeed any kind of painting. Francis Bacon didn’t have an art background, or education, but he did it anyway and created some of the most influential paintings of the 20th century.

The best advice I can give is to get cracking, use a mirror or photograph, pens, paper and paint and just give it a go, you might surprise yourself.