A New Project Begins

I have settled in to my new home nicely. I've set aside some space in the garage as a painting area that has a big glass window letting in a lot of natural light.
So then I got thinking of what my next project could be. Since I enjoy doing landscape paintings, and I've also started doing portraits, (so far just sketching with an ink pen), I came with the idea of doing a half landscape, half portrait.
I happen to follow Kelly Slater on Instagram, and he uploaded this photo, which was taken just after he won his 11th world title at San Francisco.  I love this picture because Kelly has such striking eyes, and also the Golden Gate is so iconic.

So here is my start on a largeish 40 x 40 inch canvas using oils.  Hoping to get most of this finished in the last week of my holidays!