The Archibald prize is now showing at the Gallery of NSW. Every year The Australian newspaper prints copies of the finalists. It's a great source of discussion in our house, with the girls able to rip in almost as critically as Christopher Allen. Back in 2009 when I first started studying painting at the BIA, our teacher, Sally Duhig, had us copy Guy Maestr's portrait of singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunuping. It was a tonal exercise, we were instructed to choose a colour, mix up a light, medium and dark of that colour and paint using only those three tones. Concentrating on the tones took away the fear of making a good likeness, so that everyone in the class was pleased with their result.

This year I made a few pencil sketches of Carla Fletcher's portait of Jenny Kee. I like Clara's version better, but it was fun to have a go.