Didn't get into the portrait competition. Plan now to do a new version of the painting addressing what I think are its weaknesses. It's a pity the feedback from competitions is a simply binary Yes/No - it would be great to get a crit.

I think the painting was too big and cropped to tightly, the later being a product of me messing up the measurements.

Also I plan to revisit the painting I started but didn't submit last year, again using what I've learnt from this year's effort. I broke off working on that because I couldn't work out what needed doing to it. I've got a pretty good idea now. Plus when it was in my studio alongside this years piece it got a much more positive response from visitors - I think there might be something in it which can be teased out.

We'll see.