Study for a Self-Portrait Painting

Self-Portrait Study, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, graphite.

A study for a self-portrait that I plan to paint... will have to try a few more sketches, I guess. Not quite right, but recognizable enough. Just did this one now, after a frigid dog walk. I do look so serious, but then, I am. :) Though pretty much always smile, guess I was intently drawing - in a dark room, too. 2B pencil. Note to self: smile a little when you do the painting. :)

                              

Coil of Koi in Dark Water

Coil of Koi in Dark Water, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, multi-media.

Finished, unless I slightly whiten some of those Koi edges. I sparingly brushed the koi with some translucent paints (vellum, blue, orange, yellow), which glimmer. The fish have a pearlescence that you can see if you tilt the painting in the light.

They are like angels rising from Dante's Inferno.

Earlier version: 


Coil of Fish, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, multi-media.


I have rubbed this out many times! Was going to scratch the koi out and add oranges, yellows, golds; so far, it's not working. I used a wooden toothpick to scratch the koi out, but the underpainting of acrylic 'bone black' had dried too much, leaving them with a ghostly presence.

They are like angels rising in dark water, and I may have to just accept that.

In process!

From my recent NaNo novel: 'When the plump Chinese lady who owned the store came over to feed the koi, the fish swirled to the top of the tank, a mass of watercolours and oils coiling and curving and looping in and out of each other as each fish rose to eat bits of the koi feed. Their gills translucent against the misted windows of the store.

The glass thinned, melted and the koi are flung out of the tank as the water rushed out, a coiling, spawning tidal wave. The gills of the koi became soft wings, they grew like when you drop a stopper of ink into water and patterns of ink coil and flow outwards and upwards as they disperse. The koi’s filmy, translucent wings spread and grew thinner as they rose, a coiling mass of golds, oranges, yellows and browns, a living tree spinning upwards, a whirlpool of fish like leaves flowing into the sky, for the ceiling had disappeared.'

                              

fleurs, la mort, le bouffon...

fleurs, la mort, le bouffon..., 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, multi-media.

Another page in the story of my challenge with black.

...at the edge of the world where flowers drop their petals...

What can I say, fleurs, la mort, le bouffon...

Papytroll Michel (on Facebook) wrote: "Que survivent les fleurs;un leger répit avant de mourrir. Un beau contraste couleurs chaudes/froides et noir/blanc. That survive flowers; a leger respite before of dying. A beautiful contrast warm / cold colors and black / white."

"Papytroll Michel," I responded, "you write poetry, beautiful. And, yes, so close to reality. You have no idea."

Then he came back and wrote another comment: "J'adore aussi le graphisme et le coup de pinceau incisif de ce personnage très empathique. Le trait noir rehausse l'expression et les volumes.J'aurai les moyens financiers, je te le commanderai.J'ai tenu une galerie d'art associative dans les années 1990 à Lyon(sud est france) et visité plus de 300 artistes en 2 ans (verrier-tapissier-céramiste-sculpteur-peintre-plasticien) pour mes émissions radiophoniques sur l'art.De beaux souvenirs me reviennent quand je parcours des oeuvres. J'en présente régulièrement dans mes articles sur ce site. Continues à me séduire, Brenda.

[He translates, or through Google translate, to leave his messages in English also] I also like the graphics(handwritting) and the incisive bow of this very empathic character. The black line(feature) heightens the expression and the volumes.

I shall have financial means, I shall command (order) it you. I held an associative art gallery in the 1990s in Lyon (the South is France) and visited more than 300 artists in 2 years (verrier-tapissier-céramiste-sculpteur-p eintre-plastics technician) for my radio programs on the art. Beautiful memories (souvenirs) return to me when I cross (go through) works. I present it regularly in my articles on this site. Continues to seduce me, Brenda."