One of the stepping stones that inspired me to paint Simplicity, Bliss is my only original portrait to be both shaded, and monochrome. I painted this piece as my first monochrome portrait, as I was experimenting with different colour schemes and ideas, searching for a style to call my own.

As I was painting Bliss, I realized exactly what look my brain was searching for. I had just painted Golden Hour, Bask, and my very first portrait, Alencia. Those three had been my only portraits painted in colour, and when I began painting this one, I decided to try monochrome.

Shading with paint was something I had only just begun getting used to, but I could already tell that there was something about the monochrome portrait on a bright background that I had already fallen in love with. I’d been doing realism for around 7 years by then and wanted to try something a little different, and then came the idea for Simplicity.