I always begin a new endeavor--like, for example, this series of portrait bags--with a self-portrait. There is something about a portrait of myself that makes it the easiest way to dive into a new kind of work.
That said, I ended up keeping this self-portrait (the 2007 one) for last while working on Swollen. It was the angle of the portrait that intimidated me as well as the background. I had never before painted a seascape.