Nothing to do with cricket, I’m afraid – though I must confess, I’m often stumped for something to paint. I’ve been intrigued by the beautiful and super-real paintings of Comhghall Casey. I have met him once or twice, at the life-drawing session in the United Arts Club but I didn’t manage to talk to him about how he achieves the level of finesse in his paintings. I did learn from another source that he paints from life but works by squaring up his canvas into a grid -and works on a square at a time. He then unifies them all but I don’t know whether that comes at the end or as he goes along. Fascinating.

I started this painting with Comhghall in mind -though I didn’t attempt to grid up -it was more the general feel, temperature and composition that interested me. Something in particular from this article by James Hanley caught my attention; it was that Comhghall relies solely on the natural light that his north-facing studio gives him. This kind of lighting makes for a kind of mid-toned and cool effect. From what I’ve seen of his work, there’s plenty of blending too, so brushwork isn’t very evident. I stuck with my usual alla prima approach.

The little wooden duck is one of my children’s toys that has lain neglected around the side of my studio where I keep all the kindling and firewood. It started off brightly painted, with a string attached for pulling it along, though several years languishing in the muck and wet of my garden have scoured the paint from it.  Makes it more interesting to paint.

I took the painting to a level of finish that I seldom go to, blending and reworking until I came near a photoreal quality -then I stepped back …and decided that I’d re-emphasise the brushwork and add subtle notes and hues to the back and foregrounds! What did I learn from this experiment? An increased respect for this medium that allows for infinite variations of technique; that I have rather less patience than Comhghall and that there’s a part of me that demands conspicuous brushwork in my own work.

You can see Comhghall’s tremendous portrait work in the Davy Portrait Awards Exhibitions at the Naughton Gallery, Queen’s University, Belfast and in Farmleigh House, Phoenix park in February and April respectively.