I went to photography school, but my degrees aren't in photography, there were achieved with a concentration in painting. I still paint, but not nearly as often as I did in pursuit of my masters. I still use a lot of the ideas of painting, layering for sure, mark making , color and design to make my work outside of my journalism and commercial work. I make a lot of work combining painting and photography now. I do it by photographing my paintings and even my mixing table to then combine with photographs to achieve something beyond what either one can do on their own. Just recently I thought about doing this with some portraits and figures to see what might come of it. This is a quick one that came together in a matter of minutes tonight as I needed a break from toning a large commercial assignment. Photographic manipulation by Richard Sayer