Self Portrait 2017

"Self Portrait 2017"
11 1/2" x 11 1/2" watercolour on paper
matted and framed
#20013717

It is amazing the feedback I get when I post my yearly self portrait. Usually I hear that it doesn't look like me as it is to stern or serious looking. It was pretty weird to smile into the mirror as I painted this, but the full toothful grin was just creepy. I entered this painting under "Portraits" in The Armstrong SpallumcheenArt Gallery 29th Annual Ribbon Show running from July 6 until August 5 2017

2016 Self Portrait - "My Painting Face"

Well I got a lot of flack about this one, mainly from family. I worked on it again this morning but in a wonderful sun lit room and the feeling is not as ominous. Yesterday was unusually overcast and gray.

I started painting at 6:15 a.m. when my hubbie got up to get ready for work. I thought I would try and paint early as I was finding my days were filled with other things and painting just didn't get high on the list. 

A scary view at 6:15 a.m.! With a mirror on my easel, my critical brain kept reacting to what I was seeing but I just kept painting anyways. When my stomach rumbled it was time to be done. The printing on the side reads "I put on my painting face...It can take the internal and external criticism."

My 2015 self portrait is here and 2014 selfie.

"My Painting Face"

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel

#20029416  Not For Sale

2015 Self Portrait 2

"2015 Self Portrait #2"

Oil on board 12" x 9"

#20027115

I painted this in Ingrid's class. We were to use all the colours on our palette and keep switching from warm to cool to warm etc. colours. I had set my mirror up on my easel above my canvas and hadn't noticed that my eyes were looking up at it until I stepped away to have a look as you normally do at art. I decided not to work on it at home to make it more realistic as I liked the variety of colours.

2015 Self Portrait 1

"2015 Self Portrait 1"

Oil on board 12" x 12"

#20020115

I painted this portrait while looking in a mirror on my easel. Ingrid Christensen was trying to teach us to look at large shapes then smaller. We worked with a limited palette. I like this portrait as it was an unusual view of me concentrating and not animated as usual "selfie's"| are. I used a stylus and wrote the Shel Silverstein around my portrait. It is hard to see in this photo.

Shel Silverstein quote:
"Underneath my outside face
There's a face none can see
A little less smiley
A little less sure
But a whole lot more like me."

"Selfie" in my happy place

Spending time doing what I love in a place I love.This "Selfie" painting is going up in my art studio in Sicamous, B.C. My friend Karen took a photo of me painting in my Sicamous art studio and that was my reference. You can tell I enjoy the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows.

"Selfie"

Oi on board

16" x 12"

Not For Sale

Self portrait #2

After having one class on a self portrait with Ingrid. I decided to start fresh on my own at home, where I wasn't distracted with the beautiful art coming alive all around me in the class. I also thought I would take a few more pictures of how the painting developed for my own reference later. What I found interesting is how focused and concentrating my facial features were. This apparently was serious business in both self portraits!

This is the underpainting where I am trying to place all the features as well as get the size and placement correct. I toned the canvas first with a warm golden yellow.

The painting is now at mid completion. I have also worked on the background and am quite happy with how it is at this point. Will post the final product at a later date when I get time to work on it again. The good news, the subject is always close at hand!

First self portrait #1

This is my first self portrait done in Ingrid Christensen's figure and still life class. This is the second set of classes I am taking with Ingrid. The thought of ever doing a self portrait never occured to me mainly because I would of had no idea how to tackle it. It was very interesting and intimidating looking at the work done in the class, the styles were all so different! I had a hard time focusing on my painting as I could of happily walked around the class just watching the paintings evolve.

We were to do a thumb nail sketch and decide on the placement on the canvas and the angle of the view. I thought more of a sideways angle would be interesting, but I kept forgetting to put my head at that angle and was painting more face on. This lead to my face shape changing, as well as my eyes and nose in the wrong spot! Ingrid helped me align my painting with a more straight on view as this is what I was really seeing. You can tell even without the features defined how hard I was concentrating!

The picture above is how far I got in class #1. Thank goodness this was over 2 class times. One artist completely finished her painting in that class. I found out afterwards she was a professional portrait artist in water colour. Now you can understand why I would of rather watched than painted!