Self Portrait by John Potter

I am an amateur too john, so i can only say i like this painting and the lovely colours used!

It's a very arresting piece, John. I'm no expert in portraits, but this painting caught my eye immediately. It's very balanced in composition, the skin tones are excellent and the colors in the whole potrait work very well together.

I like this one John , were you peeping in a mirror or did you do it from a photograph ?,I attempted one a while back staring intently in the mirror and my wife hated it," not a bit like you ,far to stern" : )

I agree with the above. It is a nice portrait, I like the colours you have used

Missed this at the time - the only points I'd make which might be helpful are - 1) is your sideboard/burn hair really that thick?, 2) maybe a bit more sense of growth in the hair, ie rather than filling in the space with hair colour (and this very hard to explain!), try pulling the paint back so that it looks as though it's springing from your scalp rather than lying flat against or on top of it. I think you're either going to understand that or not! It's hard to get it across without showing you what I mean. I am nit-picking, by the way, but you asked for criticism... you've done the specs (which are difficult!) extremely well; and I like the way the background is actually lighter behind you than in front, it balances the picture well.