Aideen Griffin: I am a portrait and landscape painter living in Bray Co. Wicklow.
The central theme to my practice is working directly from observation. Much of my work is plein air painting, working outdoors in nature, often having to work in broad strokes, adapting to the everchanging conditions..
I've always been drawn to the impermanency in life and regularly paint self portraits, I see them as a record of the changes in myself over time, a snapshot of where I am now, in the present moment.
In the making of this portrait there was a self assuredness, a 'knowing' in the doing of it. I chose to work small, not getting distracted by the detail, working quickly, allowing the portrait to emerge. It is the same sense of immediacy I look for when I'm working in the landscape.