0:00:02 > 0:00:05I am on a wonderful Welsh adventure, as I discover more
0:00:05 > 0:00:10about four outstanding artists influenced by this great land.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15During the series, I will be creating paintings inspired by their work.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20I am going to have to paint in ways I have never done before and at the end of it,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23I will probably turn to you and I will say,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25"Can you tell what it is yet?"
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Every time I cross the border into Wales, my heart leaps up.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52It's almost as if I'm coming home.
0:00:52 > 0:00:58I'm off now to meet a fellow Australian, artist Shani Rhys James,
0:00:58 > 0:01:04and she has chosen to put Wales right at the centre of her creative life.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Like me, Shani is an Aussie.
0:01:08 > 0:01:15She was born in Melbourne in 1953, but when she was nine, she and her mum left Australia for London.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22Shani specialises in amazing autobiographical portraits.
0:01:22 > 0:01:29Some are especially inspired by what she remembers of her early life back in Oz.
0:01:29 > 0:01:37These powerful paintings make her one of the most exciting living artists working in Wales today.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45Shani's dramatic self-portraits are celebrated the world over,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50but if I am to get to grips with her style, I think I'm going to need to do a bit of soul-searching.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54This could be my most dramatic challenge yet!
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Shani's paintings are deeper and more intense than mine, and they're all inspired
0:02:00 > 0:02:07by her own personal experiences, whereas I paint exactly what I see.
0:02:07 > 0:02:13When I do my Shani-style self-portrait, I'll be painting in a way I'm not used to,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17and to paint something as good as these, I'll have to try and understand
0:02:17 > 0:02:22the influences of my own family history and how it has affected my own work,
0:02:22 > 0:02:30so I'll also be going on my own personal journey and revisiting the story of my own Welsh clan,
0:02:30 > 0:02:31the Harrises.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39I can't wait to meet Shani and see her latest work.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45She lives near Welshpool in rural Powys in this stunning house.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50- HE LAUGHS - How lovely to meet you!
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Lovely to meet you, too! This is amazing!
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Paintings, paintings, I want to see your paintings!
0:02:55 > 0:02:57All right, off we go!
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'What I like most about Shani's paintings
0:03:00 > 0:03:04'are the vivid colours and the intensity of the characters she creates.'
0:03:04 > 0:03:05It's a little bit crowded.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11'This is the first time I've been to see where they all come together in her studio.'
0:03:11 > 0:03:14How nice to have a bit of space like this!
0:03:16 > 0:03:21- Is that from Australia?- Yes, that's an Australian memory one.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Gosh, it looks so Australian,
0:03:24 > 0:03:25- doesn't it, this...- Well...
0:03:25 > 0:03:31..far-distant chunk of blue and going off and off and off.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Gosh, you do some BIG stuff, don't you!
0:03:33 > 0:03:37What I'm interested in is really getting like under the skin.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It's not necessarily my head, I'm just looking at like a landscape,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46so I'm doing it like a landscape and I'm just sort of seeing like the surface of the head,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49and it's the paint becoming the skin and...
0:03:49 > 0:03:54I don't follow the process. Are you looking in a mirror to get this?
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Yes. I use my hand mirror for all the portraits I do.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59You can see how grotty it is.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04You can hardly see your face, but it gets covered in paint in the course of...
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Suddenly, I'll realise one day that I can't actually see any more,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10so I'll give it a clean, or get another one!
0:04:10 > 0:04:13In fact, I nearly bought another one!
0:04:13 > 0:04:15The back of it, all covered in paint!
0:04:15 > 0:04:17You should see the other ones!
0:04:17 > 0:04:19It looks like my joint - paint everywhere!
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Do you still feel that your early years in Australia
0:04:24 > 0:04:27impress upon your painting now?
0:04:27 > 0:04:34I feel that that early time in Australia is just the most important...
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Yeah, I do feel it's very important, very important.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39What age were you when you left?
0:04:39 > 0:04:40- Nine.- Oh, oh!
0:04:40 > 0:04:47But, you see, there was never any rite of passage, because we were going to go back after a year.
0:04:47 > 0:04:48We had the return ticket
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and mummy sold it
0:04:50 > 0:04:52and we hitched around Europe
0:04:52 > 0:04:54and we could never get the money back to go.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56And you still have that memory?
0:04:56 > 0:05:03Those memories, those early memories, are almost the strongest thing you base your whole life on,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07because it's like how you were, what you were in essence
0:05:07 > 0:05:11when you were little and how you felt so strongly and, maybe, arrested development.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16- I've sort of stayed at, sort of like, ten, forever! - HE LAUGHS
0:05:22 > 0:05:27Like my dad, Shani's father was Welsh.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33Shani moved around from place to place with her mother after leaving Australia.
0:05:33 > 0:05:40They emigrated to England so Shani's mum could follow her dream of becoming an actress.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46They eventually settled in London, where Shani spent the next 20 years.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51How did you come to end up in Wales?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54We came here really because of the children.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58You wouldn't think, "Ooh, I'm in East London now, where all the artists are,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02"I know, I'm going to go to Wales and live in the middle of nowhere,"
0:06:02 > 0:06:07but, you know, career move, but it was for the kids, you know, because I saw my kids
0:06:07 > 0:06:11wandering around East London with their little faces like drooped
0:06:11 > 0:06:16at exhaust level when they were in a pushchair, no trees, nothing,
0:06:16 > 0:06:21and unbeknownst to me, suddenly I could paint and I loved it here and it was like my soul home.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23- How nice is that!- My soul home.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Good for you! When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Well, when I was about eight. I might have even been seven, actually.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35It never occurred to me that I would be anything else!
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I would say, at the age of three and four and so forth,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42"I'm going to be an artist," and then I would pause for effect and say,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44"And a good one!"
0:06:44 > 0:06:47- Oh, really!- You know!- Oh, goodness!
0:06:47 > 0:06:51I've got to do a painting
0:06:51 > 0:06:55In the style of this lady from Wales called Shani Rhys James.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01- Oh, the name rings a bell.- So how would you suggest I go about it?
0:07:01 > 0:07:03What scale are we thinking here?
0:07:03 > 0:07:08Well, I could do one little like that, or I could do a huge one.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Yeah, well, I might stick, if I were you, with the...
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Stick with the small one?
0:07:14 > 0:07:19'I think doing a small self-portrait will be difficult enough for me to tackle!
0:07:19 > 0:07:22'I know even Shani finds the larger pictures challenging.'
0:07:25 > 0:07:28- There you go.- That's lovely!
0:07:28 > 0:07:32'And I still need to learn more about her work.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36'I've really got to get to grips with how she manages
0:07:36 > 0:07:41'to bring her imagination alive so vividly on the canvass itself,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45'and so Shani has arranged some of her pictures for me to see.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47'She is hugely talented.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52'Her paintings are exhibited around the world and she has won art's top award,
0:07:52 > 0:07:59the Jerwood Prize, as well as a gold medal at the National Eisteddfod.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Scraped through... What do you use to scrape that?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Well, I use a pallet knife, yeah.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08I love the red,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12that the background is painted over the red, coming through.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- That's it there, scratching it through.- Gorgeous, yeah.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19I often work with layers like that, yeah.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23That painting, I'd have started off with an eye or something!
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Very apprehensive look she's got.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29- Well, yeah. - What does the future hold for me?
0:08:29 > 0:08:33That was in the Royal Academy last year, hanging.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39The eyes are the powerful things, aren't they? In all your paintings, the eyes. They grab you, bang, bang.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40Is this your mum?
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Well, this is a funny one, just looking at it now, actually,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48I'm thinking, it could be me and my mother or it could be me grown up...
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Turning into a woman.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51Yeah, turning into a woman,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56and also there's that sense of rootlessness that me and my mother have had in a way,
0:08:56 > 0:09:01this whole business of being catapulted out of your country of origin
0:09:01 > 0:09:06and in a way forever searching for those roots, but as an artist,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10you are always, in a sense, an outsider, you know, you are.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12What does nationality mean to you?
0:09:12 > 0:09:14I certainly don't feel English.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16I don't feel foreign in Wales,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20because actually, I feel very much taken to the Welsh heart in many ways,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23I do feel the Welsh are very fond of me.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Australian, well I've only been back once, but I certainly, like, I seem to click with you
0:09:29 > 0:09:32and there is a bond, you know, that you feel straightaway,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34you don't need to, sort of...
0:09:34 > 0:09:36- Don't have to explain anything.- No.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41- It's good.- Sometimes, I think people find my paintings too confrontational and in-your-face.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44- I'm sure.- You know. - There's no half-measures, is there!
0:09:44 > 0:09:47No, so for that reason, I don't know what I feel!
0:09:47 > 0:09:52It's a magic face, that, looking-around, you know, over-the-shoulder look,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55yeah, that's good.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57I love those piercing eyes.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03'I've been snapping away with my camera in the hope
0:10:03 > 0:10:07'that these images will help guide me when I do my self-portrait later.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10'I do feel I have learnt lots about Shani's technique...
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'..but, taking Shani's lead, I need to find out
0:10:17 > 0:10:22'how MY family ties shaped me as an artist.'
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Talking to Shani,
0:10:26 > 0:10:32I realised what a huge influence her childhood and her family history have had on her art
0:10:32 > 0:10:39and so I thought, maybe I should head back to my Welsh artistic roots,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43maybe lay myself bare, if I'm to try and create
0:10:43 > 0:10:49a self-portrait unlike anything I have ever done before,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51so I'm heading south to Merthyr.
0:10:53 > 0:10:59I'm in the South Wales Valleys, where my grandfather lived and worked as a professional artist.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04I need to find out what motivated him, just like Shani's family,
0:11:04 > 0:11:09to leave his home and emigrate to the other side of the world.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14George F Harris left South Wales for Australia 90 years ago.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Here we are in Merthyr High Street.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22My grandfather, George F Harris, and his father
0:11:22 > 0:11:26had a very successful photographic and portraiture business here.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Of course, that's long gone, but people still fondly remember
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Harris Photographer, 88, the High Street.
0:11:37 > 0:11:43Merthyr is a very different place today from when my grandfather lived here in the late 19th century.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46It was once a boom town, growing rapidly
0:11:46 > 0:11:51due to the success of the local steel and coal industries.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53My granddad was in demand
0:11:53 > 0:11:57with well-off customers who wanted him to do their portraits.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59The rich would have him do oil paintings
0:11:59 > 0:12:03and the rest would have to make do with far cheaper photographs.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08These images of the time are fantastic, aren't they?
0:12:08 > 0:12:14I'm here at Cyfarthfa Castle, which has a collection of my granddad's work.
0:12:14 > 0:12:21It's amazing, isn't it, that over 100 years, ago my granddad was using a convex mirror to paint
0:12:21 > 0:12:25his portrait and I'm reminded instantly of Shani Rhys James
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and the way she used a mirror, a portion of a mirror,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32looking in it at her facial features to put it in.
0:12:32 > 0:12:39He didn't obviously come that close to the mirror, but that convex shape of the mirror
0:12:39 > 0:12:43shows the whole of the surroundings and curves everything and you see
0:12:43 > 0:12:47the edge of the easel is curved because of the curve of the glass
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and he's sort of distorted everything
0:12:51 > 0:12:56and I guess he was well ahead of his time for that sort of painting.
0:12:56 > 0:13:021909, it's lovely - I'll keep that in my mind
0:13:02 > 0:13:07when I do my self-portrait in the style of Shani.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09It's lovely.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15'Castle curator Scott Reid has found some fantastic family photographs.'
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Talk me through all this, Scott.
0:13:18 > 0:13:19Well, in essence, this is a snapshot
0:13:19 > 0:13:22of your grandfather's business in Merthyr
0:13:22 > 0:13:24and, of course, when they first came,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26they were primarily photographers.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Your great-grandfather, Cleopas Harris,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31when he first turned up,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35he advertised himself as part of the American school of photography,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38because the Americans picked up photography
0:13:38 > 0:13:40much more quickly than everybody else,
0:13:40 > 0:13:45- and here we've got some examples of a family. - They're great, aren't they!
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Yes. This is a family called the Atkins,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49and you can see he's put them in poses,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53he's used various props while they're taking photographs,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and this shows how artists and photographers merged.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59In fact, most of the early photographers
0:13:59 > 0:14:03started out as artists.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07I've just caught this -
0:14:07 > 0:14:10"Oil portraits from 30 shillings!"
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Oil paintings were seen as a quality mark,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15so what he would frequently do for better-off people
0:14:15 > 0:14:17is he would take their photograph first
0:14:17 > 0:14:19and then he would actually use
0:14:19 > 0:14:24a glass lantern slide and project the photograph onto a canvas
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and then just paint it off like that.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29They're still using that today, aren't they,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32projecting from slides onto canvas and then painting it?
0:14:32 > 0:14:34And what about this book?
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Well, this is actually the first tourist guide for Merthyr Tydfil,
0:14:38 > 0:14:39done in the 1890s,
0:14:39 > 0:14:44and your grandfather actually took the photographs for the guide!
0:14:44 > 0:14:49Here, we've got a lovely little one of Victoria Street in Merthyr.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Here, we have one that your grandfather took of Cyfarthfa Castle.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54Oh, yes. Good shot, isn't it?
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Oh, yes!
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Oh, wow!
0:14:58 > 0:15:03This one here is of the lower High Street in Merthyr, with the crowds bustling all over the place.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11While I'm here in Merthyr, I'll be calling on some old friends,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13the Dowlais male voice choir.
0:15:13 > 0:15:20'I'm going to sing some songs that take me right back to my childhood in Perth, Western Australia.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25'I also want to discover if the guys or their families know anything at all about my grandfather.'
0:15:25 > 0:15:31# Father knew Lloyd George. #
0:15:31 > 0:15:34I couldn't help myself! There, you've just reminded me!
0:15:34 > 0:15:38I believe your mother actually knew my grandfather?
0:15:38 > 0:15:44Well, she remembers him from when she was probably about eight or ten,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and she described your grandfather as a very dapper gentleman.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52He obviously had a reputation for being well-dressed, like yourself.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57- Have you seen my shoes! Get off! - LAUGHTER
0:15:59 > 0:16:05Apparently he was famous. Not famous, "notorious", perhaps, is a better word.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08People would say,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13"He wears a brown velvet smoking jacket in the daytime"!
0:16:13 > 0:16:15LAUGHTER
0:16:15 > 0:16:17And that would have been sinful!
0:16:17 > 0:16:24Yeah, and he used to paint in a brown velvet jacket with a homburg and a tie!
0:16:24 > 0:16:29How he kept them clean I don't know. If he's anything like me, I paint over everything I own!
0:16:29 > 0:16:33I was reminiscing a little bit about when I was a kid,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I learnt all the songs parrot-fashion, you know?
0:16:36 > 0:16:41Because we used to go to the Cambrian Society every Tuesday night
0:16:41 > 0:16:47in Perth in Western Australia and I didn't know what that meant,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50but I learnt all these wonderful songs,
0:16:50 > 0:16:56and suddenly, one day, my dad, he said, "I'm going to stop this.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00"We're not going to go to the Cambrian Society any more, we're Australians,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03"and that's it, we are Australians now,"
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and so that suddenly stopped when I was about nine,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and I find that it's still with me, you know.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15It's still ingrained in me, that Welshness,
0:17:15 > 0:17:23and it's amazing to me that, you know, as I get older, I cross over into Wales and it's all there.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26I have but to hear a Welsh choir and I'm in floods of tears!
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Unless I'm trying to join in as well, make a bit of noise!
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Listen, let's do it! What's a good key, E flat is good?
0:17:33 > 0:17:35NATIONAL ANTHEM IS PLAYED ON PIANO
0:17:40 > 0:17:44# Gwlad, gwlad
0:17:44 > 0:17:49# Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad
0:17:49 > 0:17:53# Tra mor yn fur
0:17:53 > 0:17:58# I'r bur hoff bau
0:17:58 > 0:18:10# O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. #
0:18:10 > 0:18:12ROLF LAUGHS
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Oh, gosh, isn't that gorgeous!
0:18:15 > 0:18:16Just magic feeling.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19I'll be in tears again!
0:18:19 > 0:18:21LAUGHTER
0:18:21 > 0:18:26'I suppose with my family history, I was always destined to become an artist.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30'My grandfather was quite a character in Merthyr
0:18:30 > 0:18:35'and I've decided to reveal a little family secret,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39'because he was involved in a local Victorian scandal!'
0:18:41 > 0:18:43This is my grandfather's old home.
0:18:43 > 0:18:50He built up a very successful business in Merthyr, and he and his wife bought this old house.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54I intend to head straight upstairs where there's some interesting Harris history.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05The previous owner of this house did wood panelling all over this attic area,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08but he had the sense to leave that piece of bare wall
0:19:08 > 0:19:16where George Harris, my grandfather, had done all these lovely pencil drawings of Rosetta, my grandmother.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19She was just a maid at the time.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22She looked after the children, this was their playroom,
0:19:22 > 0:19:27but George and Rosetta fell in love, and they ran away together,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30leaving George's first wife.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36You can imagine the scandal that would have rocked Victorian Merthyr at the time.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44My grandfather and Rosetta left Merthyr in 1895
0:19:44 > 0:19:50to set up home in Cardiff, away from prying eyes.
0:19:50 > 0:19:56They went on to have nine children, and eventually married when George's first wife died.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01It was actually my dad, though, that finally persuaded his own father
0:20:01 > 0:20:05that the Harris family future lay in Australia.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11It's there that my dad and his brother Carl enlisted in the Aussie army
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and were soon fighting in the World War I trenches.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19A family portrait from that time is on show here at Cyfarthfa Castle.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26It's one my grandfather painted of Rosetta in 1918.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32This is a very emotional painting and focuses on one of the saddest stories in my family history...
0:20:34 > 0:20:41..the death of my Uncle Carl in World War I, 12 years before I was born.
0:20:41 > 0:20:42And that was just painted...
0:20:44 > 0:20:49..just after they had the news of Carl's death, their second son's death in the war,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52in the last couple of weeks of that war.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57You can see her eyes are wet with tears about to be shed.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03It's funny, isn't it, that years later I had a huge hit with Two Little Boys
0:21:03 > 0:21:10about potentially two brothers going to fight in the war,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and my auntie once said to me,
0:21:14 > 0:21:19"I can't listen to that, I have to switch it off if it comes on the radio," and I was quite offended.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22"Why?" I said.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28She said, "Well, it just reminds me of your dad and of Carl,
0:21:28 > 0:21:34"and I can't listen to it. It just brings back those awful memories of hearing about his death."
0:21:34 > 0:21:37And that had never occurred to me until that point.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39It's amazing, isn't it?
0:21:40 > 0:21:42When you get to the bit,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47# Did you think I would leave you dying
0:21:47 > 0:21:52# When there's room on my horse for two
0:21:52 > 0:21:57# Climb up here, Joe We'll soon be flying
0:21:57 > 0:22:02# I can go just as fast with two
0:22:02 > 0:22:07# Did you say, Joe I'm all a tremble
0:22:07 > 0:22:11# Perhaps it's the battle's noise
0:22:11 > 0:22:16# But I think it's that I remember
0:22:16 > 0:22:19# When we were two little boys. #
0:22:22 > 0:22:26My visit to Cyfarthfa has really helped me.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Like Shani, my granddad was seen as a bit avant-garde at the time.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35He wasn't afraid to try out new things, and I think that's something
0:22:35 > 0:22:41I've got to come to grips with if my self-portrait is to do Shani any justice.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50'As I head across the border back home, I feel invigorated by,
0:22:50 > 0:22:56'and I must say more than a little proud of, my Welsh clan's history.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02'I've enjoyed discovering more about my grandfather, and it really is a lot to take in.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06'I'm almost ready to do my painting in Shani's style.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12'All I have to do is remember the advice she gave me about how to do it.'
0:23:12 > 0:23:14So how would you suggest I go about it?
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Well, you've got to have a little hand mirror.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21I have a little hand mirror and I would look at myself in parts, you know.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25It's not like I'm looking. I never look at myself like in a mirror.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26Take your glasses off a minute.
0:23:28 > 0:23:34And there we go. You see, you could do all the nice big hairy eyebrows there.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38The eyes are quite important in my paintings.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41You've got lovely colours and things that you can emphasise,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45the relationship between that eye, for example, and the nose,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and under here, and the nostrils and then the lips,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and then you just build up from that.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55What I do is I don't just use the palette knife, I use the brush,
0:23:55 > 0:24:02so that the paint also is significant as well as the marks,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05but you can if... Now, you're going to have to loosen up.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09You're not going to be able to go into this business looking like a photograph,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and so you just think of yourself as a landscape.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16- OK.- And you break it down into parts with a close mirror.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18I will try, and you'll be the first to know!
0:24:20 > 0:24:23'I would never have thought of it that way -
0:24:23 > 0:24:26'painting the face as if it were a landscape!
0:24:26 > 0:24:32'Shani's words had been so helpful, and obvious when you see her large-scale pieces.
0:24:32 > 0:24:39'I now need to do the best I can and hope it comes close to these fantastic paintings.
0:24:39 > 0:24:46'So, the plan is, take on a smaller canvas and just concentrate on painting my face.'
0:24:48 > 0:24:51I'm back in my own studio now.
0:24:51 > 0:24:57I'm all set up to try and tackle a portrait in the style of Shani Rhys James,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01and she said "get your glasses off, cos we want to see right in there".
0:25:01 > 0:25:07I've got a little hand mirror, check the looking at myself the way she does, OK.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Very red there.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16That's very red out there.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Watching her doing all her bits and pieces,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27it was really fascinating.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32There is probably a method in how I do it, but I don't know how I do it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36The eyes are going to go here,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and the other one there, like that.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43I sort of maybe stop at the eyes sometimes, there's a way.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I mean, why I have my eyes looking out at me is to focus my attention,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49the relationship I have with the painting.
0:25:51 > 0:25:57- Do you use colour an awful lot? - I use a palette knife, brushes, rags, push it around.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I need to get that line of light on the nose perfectly.
0:26:04 > 0:26:11This is really difficult to tackle because mainly I've never done anything this way before.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Hmm. Oh, well!
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I'm getting a likeness to myself there.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28That's better already.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Hey, that's good. For such a long time I didn't do any painting.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55Now it's so lovely to get back into it and feel the joy of doing some painting again.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Oh, it looks roughly like me,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03after a very rough night!
0:27:03 > 0:27:05I'd better sign it.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11Maybe I should leave it for a couple of days to dry and then come back and do a bit more.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19Don't feel you're in control. Let it start speaking to you so that you lose control of it,
0:27:19 > 0:27:25so that you are not in control, that you're allowing yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29I think what I've got to do is take off this whole left side.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32There's about one out of ten I like of mine.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Um-huh.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43That's better already.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49It's really a shock when you try and do something
0:27:49 > 0:27:54like somebody else does it, and they've been doing it for years and years and years and years.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59You try it for the first time and it doesn't work, it's such a shock.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03I think I'll go back to what she does so well.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05I think I'll...
0:28:08 > 0:28:10I'll use a palette knife down that side.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Now, wish me luck with these bits.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15I'm going to do a big background bit here.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30I'm happier with that.
0:28:35 > 0:28:41We're all a product of our upbringing, aren't we, whether it's Australian or whether it's Welsh,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45and this is just me. Who am I?
0:28:45 > 0:28:47I'm Rolf Harris.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:57 > 0:29:00E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk