Acrylic on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

This artwork comes with an external frame

Australian cricketer Nathan Lyon found time to sit for this portrait during his busy domestic and international schedule during 2017. This was the second of two competition portraits that I painted of Lyon, it was submitted to the 2018 Archibald Prize and was a finalist in the 2017 Black Swan Portrait Prize being exhibited at the Art Gallery of Western Australia , Perth. It was also the People's choice winner at the 2018 Hidden Faces - Victorian Salon Des Refuses exhibition in Melbourne, Victoria.

From humble beginnings as a net bowler while working as a curator’s assistant at the Adelaide Oval, Nathan Lyon has rapidly become Australian Cricket’s best Test spinner since Shane Warne. In this portrait I’ve painted Nathan wearing the green cap worn by Australian cricketers that symbolises the pinnacle of achievement in their sport. Seniority within the team is denoted by a faded, aging and dilapidated cap, a cap that is never replaced and never washed. Along with each cap goes a number reflecting the order in which it was assigned from the very first player to the latest, in Nathan’s case number 421.

I wanted to convey something of the calculating sportsman - the distant, thoughtful look as if evaluating every variable from any weakness that the batsman may have to field positioning and the perfect delivery required to take his next wicket.

During the course of this painting’s travels around the country for competitions and exhibitions between Melbourne, Sydney and Perth it collected a couple of ‘character marks’ (crease under the eye and pimple near the ear). These marks are minor and can only be seen when the canvas is lit from the side (see photo).

The portrait has a white wooden gap frame that gives the artwork overall dimensions of 104 x 104 x 3.5cm.