This self portrait was inspired by Scandinavian artist Olafur Eliasson’s ‘In Real Life’ exhibition at Tate Modern. The entire exhibition encourages participation from the viewers. His piece ‘Room for one colour’ uses a certain yellow light to render everything monochrome. Looking at your own hands and at other people as they walk around the space creates a strange reality. I loved the interactive element of his work and decided to paint a self portrait as a response to the exhibition. Circles are a common theme in much of Eliasson’s work which is why I chose a circular canvas. In my painting I have included a motif to acknowledge his ‘Little Sun’ project which helps provide light using solar power for people without electricity around the world.

I have painted using oils on canvas with a limited palette of cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, Payne’s grey and titanium white. It took approximately 15 hours over five or six sessions.