This is Simon, my colleague at work. The painting is titled “Port” not because he is standing by the water, but because of the bandage on his chest, which covers a port a cath.

His wife Karen, an oncologist, wrote an award-winning essay about the feelings and thoughts that overwhelmed her when her husband was stricken with the disease she is researching. (The essay is in Danish, but that is what Google Translate is for.)

The drawing was done on 11 October. The painting was finished on 7 November 2021.

This is the reference photograph. There are two small kids in the background but I decided to focus just on Simon.	The drawing is deceptively simple.	The outlines are redrawn using raw umber. The goal is to make sure the shapes are intact and ready for the next phase.
This part is most fun. I considered stopping here 🙂	The form is made more human by using brown on top of the base colors.	More yellow ocher to bring out the sun and flesh tones. From here, I worked on likeness and shading.