Oil on wood. This piece was painted over this past summer in the painting I and II class my local community college. Being the only painting II student in the class, I had more freedom when it came to the projects. My professor wanted me to focus my attention on the things I found to be most challenging or difficult, or the areas I wanted to improve in, which were the brainstorming process and subject matter. I spent the entire eight week course working on this one piece, which was indeed challenging. Prior to this class, I had always just jumped right in and immediately began working on the final product, but for this particular one, I spent the first half of the class writing, sketching, and making smaller test pieces before I began working on the final product. I even made some adjustments after the class ended. In a way, this is a self portrait, though initially, that was not my intention.