I really never painted portraits: why? Well - couldn't get the models, had to rely on photographs, and really: that's no way to learn, progress, or develop.

However, a friend, having served a record time as Treasurer of an organization of which I'm also a member - oh, why be coy? The Labour Party - wanted a portrait of Jeremy Corbyn. I won't recite the reasons - for some he was a beacon of hope, for others the man who welcomed anti-Semites into the party. My views on that are at best ambivalent; and anyway, my colleague wanted a portrait of the lad, so there it was.

What to do? I live miles away from JC, and am no more keen to travel to Islington than he's likely to be to come here (actually, he did: but neglected to tell me). So - it had to be photographs. I loathe painting from photos - most artists who are, or have been, professionals do; especially with portraits. The forms, the shape, the perspective, the proportions - you just can't get them from photos; some manage (somehow!); sometimes, with an aged face, you can fill in the gaps which the photograph conceals.

But, were you inclined to try it, I can assure you that Mr Corbyn is neither old nor young, and has features which are very hard to assess from any number of photos: in fact, the more you have, the more confusing it gets, in part because politicians do tend to pull faces for the camera: knowing the photographers are always after them, they tend to assume determined expressions: in fact, he said modestly, I've done so myself, pursued once upon a time by photographers when I was an Agent. (I gave an interview on TV: the producer said "Yes, very nice love; but could we do it again, only your eyes make you look shifty..." - What else did he expect? I was being shifty!) Anyway: politicians, especially - pose. They can't help themselves, and it's unreasonable to blame them: no politico really wants to look like a turnip. JC - a fundamentally retiring and shy man, whatever anyone thinks, is no exception.

So, I've done my best - I've shown one here, my first one, and don't intend to show the 6 or seven which have followed, many of which were nowhere near as accurate as the first one: if only I hadn't done it on oil-painting paper, but on canvas instead! Never use inferior surfaces! You never know when you might get an impression first off, and will never get it so close again! I will present one of these paintings to my colleague eventually - his 40 year anniversay occurs in September, so I have time to do half a dozen more if I must.

But - if only I could have posed Jeremy Corbyn, explored the shapes of his skull and the proximity of nose to mouth, mouth to chin, on his actual head, instead of gleaning them from photographs..... If you ever have to do this: make 'em sit for you. Take a ruler to their face if you must; guage the depths of the skull, note where it extends, measure where the ears really go, get those eyes in the proper alignment... You can get a lot from photographs, but please don't think you can get it all - even the very best of us will find that there are inaccuracies which the pedant will spot, even if we don't (and we probably will).