Bruce Springsteen

Mike combined 3 separate images to make this painting. The face, the hair and the beard came from separate black and white photos. When he was happy with the composition, he added the colours himself. Bruce's music was a great favourite.

Nelson Mandela

Mike worked for around 4 months on this portrait. He was working from very small photos and had to add a lot of detail around the eyes and on the fingers.

Clint Eastwood

This was Mike's second attempt at painting Clint. The first was a typical cowboy but Mike wanted something more challenging. The result was one of his best works. 

President Obama

Mike took great care choosing the colours for this one. When you look closely at the original, you can see strokes of green, blie, yellow and even turquoise, setting off the brown skin and dark hair. He said you wouldn't guess, but this was one of his most adventurous paintings in terms of picking out detail using colour.

Cate Blanchett

Mike thought Cate Blanchett always looked her best when her hair "wasn't quite perfetly under control". This same point made painting her very difficult, as he had to paint each and every one of those long blond hairs and get the colour and the highlights right too!