Two bottles of Irish Whiskey, half a bottle of rum, two cases of beer, an insufficient amount of sleep and three months later… My Archibald entry is complete. Dave Collins came around to my studio today, I made a shortlist of portraits and we decided together which one was to be submitted. I was very proud of the shortlist and was delighted with my final submission. More importantly Dave has given it his tick of approval.

Dave was a dynamic person to paint. It’s rare to get a subject who holds so much character in his entire body. The painting is life-size and quite bold. I decided not to feature it in the photo above because it’s a full on nude it’s best displayed on a gallery wall… an art gallery wall… an Art Gallery of New South Wales wall… eh eh. Come on Edmund Capon we have the same name!

You will all find out by the end of the month if I’m in the shower crying.

I now have a studio full of David Collins portraits, it looked a little obsessive for a while there. I was told that I should take a break right after I made a portrait of Dave out of mashed potato.

Fingers crossed.