Portrait Artist Forum - Hello from Southern California

Warm greetings to you all!

Over the past couple of years, I have been enjoying visiting this forum and learning from so many of you.... Thank you for the opportunity to participate as a member: I am looking forward to growing as a painter in the company of so many talented portrait artists.

My formal art background lies primarily in sculpture, in which I was also drawn to portraiture and figurative works. Now I am working primarily in oils (self-taught, mostly with your help), but also enjoy pastels and graphite. Occasionally, I may be coaxed to play with clay and bronze again.

Otherwise, I enjoy seeking out delicious (yet affordable) wines, home-roasting coffee, writing and performing music, cooking and definitely eating, and the very little I understand about quantum physics... math is not my forte.

I currently have a number of paintings in the works, and hope to share them with you as I add them to my young portfolio. (If only building and maintaining websites was as enjoyable as being in the studio.) I will be adding a small catalogue of past sculptures, alongside some other paintings and drawings, to my tumblr website. If any of you care to check them out, the link is here http://congailstudios.com/

I have attached a photo here of a recently completed 20x30 painting of a complicated spirit.

Thank you again for having me!