This self-portrait, done was I was in my mid-twenties, was the first portrait from life I attempted. It was modeled in clay and fired to produce the terra-cotta final.

Beyond the technical and visual challenges, an unexpected psychological challenge presented itself, as I soon realized it must in all portraiture - the necessity of being bluntly honest in your view of the subject. With self-portraiture, this honesty is all the more difficult. In my self-portrait, I found it extremely difficult to admit to myself, as I looked in the mirrors, that my face was really as thin as it was. I wanted to see myself as more robust, and therefore more handsome, than I actually was.