This a self-portrait pastel color study for the life-sized painting, Pursuit. My favorite artist is Rembrandt and one of the reasons I love his work is that he often painted himself and I have always liked the intensity of his and other artists' self-portraits.  Another reason for making self-portraits, especially as studies for bigger works, is that the artist can save money by posing themselves. I still recall making this drawing--I worked on it all evening and put the finishing touches on it around 3 o'clock in the morning in my very humble apartment in a poor area of Staten Island. My art education had been abstract expressionist mixed with heavy doses of postmodernist theory; no teachers touched on the slightest rudiments of natural realism. It was an intense and difficult learning curve to acquire representational skills.  Armed with books of artists I loved and a passion to express myself I used every means I could to create a living quality in my work and this pastel went a great deal towards making that happen.