This work is one of a series of large-scale single and double figure paintings made by the artist in his Hollywood Hills studio in 2005, all of which were completed in just a few sittings. Hockney worked directly onto the canvas in oils, without photographic reference or preparatory drawings. The work sets up a triangular exchange of gazes between the viewer, the artist and the model, friend and New York-based curator, Charlie Scheips. (http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw129528/David-Hockney-Self-Portrait-with-Charlie#description)