Chico con su Pelota de Fútbol

Chico con su Pelota de Fútbol (Kid with his Football) measures approximately 16 x 17.5 cm and is painted in oils on air-drying polymer clay.

This year hasn't been a great one as far as my painting is concerned, suffering as I have from the painter's equivalent of writer's block. My attempts to paint the first of a series of planned portraits have met with failure, and - setting the large canvas aside - I have been trying to get my mojo back.

This small painting is a result of that on-going effort. It's an experiment using a different support; an irregular tile of air-drying clay instead of canvas. I think it works quite well. I like the unevenness of the surface and the irregular shape, both of which lend it a degree of dynamism. I also like the fact that it's clay - albeit polymer clay - which works well with the idea of ordinary people in daily life that I like to portray. By giving the tile two coats of primer at right angles, the surface resembles the weave of a canvas too.

Like my previous painting, this picture was inspired by my trip to Chiquiquirá in Colombia.

Asking price: £175