Acrylic on canvas board, circa 1975.

By this time I was quite used to the acrylic medium. But I had found it wanting when doing portraits, on account of the difficulty in depicting subtle tone gradations. I decided to experiment with the use of an airbrush (essentially a miniature paint sprayer) which was ideal for depositing very fine, almost translucent mists of colour. This was perfect for the subtle play of light and colours on the subject's face and I was quite pleased with the result.

The finer details of her face and the rest of the painting were done with standard bristle brushes, with perhaps a bit of assistance from the airbrush in smoothing out some rougher patches.