A three part series of black and white oil self portraits painted in July 2018. I was inspired to create a small series where I focused on my face and the ideas of manipulating how you're physically percieved. Each portrait confronts the viewer, like a mirror, and each contains a slight contortion of my natural resting facial position. The pieces also convey to me the idea of perfectionism, through the allusion to bodily modification - or the tendency in painting and portraiture in general to be "kind" to the sitter: to eliminate certain flaws, especially in the face of ageing. I'm only 31, but I already see the subtle ways my face has changed over the past 5 years, and it will be interesting to revisit self-portraits as I age; and to see how my attitude towards my appearance changes along with my physical face.