Saturday, October 10, 2009

Self Portrait

Oil on 8"x10" canvas panel

When I saw the latest challenge on Michelle Burnett's blog, "Following the Masters", which was to do a self portrait, I dared myself to try it. And I'm glad I did. I've always wanted to try a portrait of myself, since it seems like a safe way to practice portraiture, (I'm the only one who's gotta be pleased with it). Since I've never been able to successfully draw myself in the mirror, I decided to take some pictures and use one for a reference. I used a canvas panel that I put 2 extra coats of gesso on, and sanded a bit. It smoothed out the surface, so that the canvas texture wasn't so distracting. The colors I used most were, transparent oxide brown, yellow ochre, cadmium scarlet, ultramarine blue, viridian, some burnt umber, and white.
I painted until I got to this point, and didn't quite know what I wanted to change about it, so I stopped, and decided if I wanted to change anything, I would just wait, and do another painting some other time. Changing this one, at this point would probably make it look worked over too much.

10 comments:

  1. This is outstanding! You should be pleased.

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  2. Wow! It's fantastic!
    So gifted and so pretty.

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  3. Wow! This is beautiful-both you and the painting! I love the soft approach you took with no hard edges and muted colors. It is very peaceful and your slight smile is just perfect! Really really nice!

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  4. Lovely portrait Debbie...lovely lady!

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  5. Thank you everyone for all of your great comments!

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  6. You did an absolutely beautiful job with your portrait, Debbie.

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  7. Nice portrait! I love the "masterly" aire about it.

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  8. Debbie, it's wonderful to see you paint yourself! Love it!

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  9. What a beautiful portrait! You have some serious skill, Debbie.

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