The face is wider and rounder than mine- but I'm not aiming for a "photograph." I had difficulty uploading a photo with an accurate rendition of the colours and white in all the right places. I eventually photographed it in direct sun, the light of which is glancing off the paint.
7.75" x 10.25", oil on perhaps paper, perhaps canvas, I don't know, I bought a few rolls of it at Active Surplus awhile back.
A muse, a goddess even. A mother. An older sister. A friend. Someone who feels very safe and nurturing. Beautiful colours.
ReplyDeleteJust my impressions .... I really like this one. Almost my favourite I think.
Mary, When I'm painting, I don't think about what I might be presenting emotionally, the focus is all on composition, colour, a dancing balance, light. But the emotions, they come through and they become what holds everything together. Of course I love what you've said, and then I look at the small painting on the screen and think, 'could you really be saying all that'... and then of course I know it's you, Mary, your beautiful mind. Thank you, for your support, and friendship.
ReplyDeleteThis looks to me very like you, as far as I can tell from photos. I can see that you're right about the face being wider and rounder than it is. But I think perhaps your strong cheek bones and generous mouth make your face 'radiate' wider than it physically is. And the added plumpness just seems a reflection of health, solidity, the kind of youth that doesn't leave if the heart stays open. Yes, it just does seem very like you.
ReplyDeleteAnd the expression, the gaze, the stillness, the colours, the window. Oh, definitely my favourite too!
I really like the expression in your eyes. It is so much more than just 'a composition', for it radiates 'life'. I'm also doing the self portrait marathon, mine just in colored pencils. Someday I hope to do oils...
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ReplyDeleteJean, while painting is one of my loves, and I'm a figurative artist, and need to base my paintings on properly drawn figures (this works best for me), I find it very hard to draw - my proportions are always out, it takes forever to get it close enough. I can spend a week working on and off on the drawing, with copious use of the erasor, and it might take an hour to do the painting! And making it "look like" the subject! Forget it. That's what the lawd made cameras for. So, yes the proportion's out, sigh, and while my main art critic hasn't seen this yet (my daughter), I think it 'looks like me' too... The paper, I think it must be paper made to look & feel like canvas, has buckled at the cheeks, like a small hill, making them look rounder still... that can be flattened later, when it's dry.
My eyes are smaller than here, and my lips also smaller, and high cheek bones, that's there.
Oh, I do go on, don't I. Thank you so much for your strong writerly comment that is a drawing of a portrait in words!
Devon, thank you, and thank you for your email, it's amazing the resonances... when they say we attract our karmic groups, how true!
Joan, wow, yes, I've seen your work in the slideshow, but it's wonderful to see it all in one place: go here to see Joan's drawings. Yours are more whimsical but still serious, and you play with the mirror, which I really like. On tiny income at present, just buying the paints and brushes was enough, I don't have an adequate mirror here to prop up and draw from. In storage I have a number, even a large 8' x 5' one I've used to practice dance/poetry performance pieces in! Sigh - I wanted my last one to be of dancing, and I'd have to use a camera, but no space where I am. These constraints, oh. But we work around them, with them, and they can become the grains of sand in the oyster, huh.
Thank you for dropping by, Joan, "just in colored pencils" - they're so honest and well done, I can fully imagine you sitting there, doing them!
I use water soluble oils - easy, just like watercolour, only richer. And they dry fairly quickly too. You get the richness of oil without having to breath the solvents, turpentine, or whatever, and clean-up is easy! Winsor & Newton have a small starter set that was CAN$20., so you could try them out without having to make a big investment. You'll love them, I guarantee!
The self-portrait... written, painted, drawn, photo-ed, is that scariest and most difficult of things for me, but you find it comfortable because you are comfortable with who you are. As well you should be...
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