Untitled at this Point - Part 1

I started on a new piece. This time I'm doing a very loosely based self portrait. My goal was to capture reality, to capture truth. So when I took a selfie, I didn't smile ear to ear as is my custom. Rather, I pulled my hair back, bowed my head a bit, and took on a decidedly expressionless look. It was actually hard for me to look at the photo at first as the passage of time clearly shows on my face. Parts of my cheeks have become jowls. I've got dark shadows under my eyes. And my normal look when I just try to remain expressionless is that of a corners of the mouth downward frowning look.

But while it was hard for me to look at at first, after looking at it over and over as I sketched some basic features, I've come to really appreciate the changes my face has undergone and the story it tells. And now I consider it to actually be a pretty good photo.

So with this painting I'm continuing in the Max Beckmann style I used a couple of paintings ago. The color palette will remain the same...in fact I intentionally left all of my paints out by my easel. My routine is to put away all of my supplies away between paintings. It gives me a fresh start and keeps my area tidy. But this time I got to save those few minutes of work.

Another thing about this painting. I started by painting over a canvas that my mom had given me. She'd purchased it with the intention of painting over the glittery painting that had been done by another artist. I'll include the original painting in my blog so you can see what I started with.

Here's the canvas I started with.
It's actually a two canvas painting.
I painted over the top canvas.
Hope it wasn't by some famous
painter because it's gone now!

I covered it with a white/yellow background.
Here it is about two hours after I painted it.
It's shining because it's still wet...after all that
time. It took till evening to dry. This is why I
ended up posting a different painting last night.

I did a quick sketch.

I did a messy black background.

I did some basic outlining with black paint.

And I'm being super brave here. I'm posting
the photo I'm loosely basing my painting on.
Yup, lines, bagginess, dark circles...and none
of it bothers me any more. It's just me.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.