#50: A New Challenge: My Self-Portrait for the HSFK Portrait Award

#50: A New Challenge: My Self-Portrait for the HSFK Portrait Award

I’ve begun a new self-portrait for the HSFK Portrait Award 2026 — one built from overlapping slices of my face to reflect the instability, shifting perspectives, and strange clarity that come with living with vertigo and chronic health issues. This post explores how the painting is taking shape and why this piece feels important to make.

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The Emotional Palette: How Colours Influence Feelings in My Art
Colour, Paint, Art, Emotion, Philosophy Michael Hebda Colour, Paint, Art, Emotion, Philosophy Michael Hebda

The Emotional Palette: How Colours Influence Feelings in My Art

For a long time, my work existed in black and white. Stripped of colour, it was all about contrast, form, and texture—letting light and shadow do the storytelling. There was a purity to it, a directness that I loved. But recently, I felt something shifting. A pull towards something richer, something more layered. So, I made a change.

I started working with colour.

At first, it felt like learning a new language—exciting but uncertain. Colour is an entirely different way of thinking, a different way of seeing. Where black and white allowed me to focus on stark, bold compositions, colour introduced a new dimension of emotion and energy. Suddenly, my work wasn’t just about what was being depicted, but how it felt, how it moved, how it resonated through shades and tones.

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