I always leave the background until later in the piece, often at the end. It gives me a better sense of what will suit the focal piece best as unless it’s a commission, my work takes on its life as it progresses. The flexibility of the imagination is the attraction in the process. For this piece, I’m creating bokeh – a familiar term of Japanese origins to photographers who utilise lens settings that create out of focus pinpoints of lighting. It’s simple, quick and effective. To create the bokeh I roughly sketch out where the circles will lay, then apply a rich, soft black charcoal as a base . I then create a series of various sized circles using a range of light to heavy layers of white charcoals.

At this point it’s a matter of blending and blurring, and adding the next layers until the final highlight details are added. I discovered that disposable gloves protect my fingers when blending large areas and provide a seamless, smooth finish to the layer. I also discovered this process facinates Karma, who thought it was a game and was intent on grabbing my hand!

This final piece was a commission. A gift for the customer’s sister who once was a ballerina many many years ago. What struck me was the difference in ballet fashion compared to now!