The first portrait I have finished for 2021 is a self portrait. A good way to start the new year. A bit older, a few more white hairs and a few more wrinkles.
The finished version can be seen here.
self portrait
Spam…
in giclees, self portrait
My friend gifted me this beautifully made Spam patterned mask and I thought it only fair that she receives a Spam themed gift in return, a giclée of my Spam painting.
The Young and The Old
My go to sitter and this old mug.
WIP...
I always look forward to this stage where I just sit back and stare at my painting. Is it done? Do I need to add anything else? Do I need to take anything away? All questions I take way too much time on. Maybe I just need an hour to contemplate these questions and move onto the next painting.
Isolation Self Portrait
Isolation Self portrait, summer 2020
oil on canvas
24x30in.
When I look back at this painting in times to come, it'll always remind me that this was the last major painting I did in the old apartment. It's also the first self portrait that encapsulated the environment I was painting in and the bulk of the painting was done when we hit a heat wave. Hence the shirtless pose.
There's a lot of lessons I learned from painting this. The first being that I really enjoy painting myself in an environment. I also know that I had a vision of what this would look like but came up a bit short. However, that's why I'll probably be painting more portraits of myself to close that gap between reality and the vision I have in my mind.
The painting can be seen here.
Self Portrait Timelapse
A test run of how to do a timelapse with a self portrait.
The finished painting.
Virtual Sittings
Me. Whenever I do a self portrait, I always get finicky and get sucked into the minutia of the painting. And it usually exceeds the short time limit I usually place on myself to paint it. Anyways…
I’ve sketched my niece the most during these isolation sketches and I find I am gaining more confidence in asking her for more intentional poses. I’m getting more ambitious when I paint her.
Akshay.
i’m really happy with how this one turned out. A little exaggerated, but I like how I laid the paid down.
30 Faces, 30 Days, final week
So I finally finished this challenge and I’m a bit late with uploading my final batch of self portraits. But, really, no one’s looking over my shoulder. So without further ado, here are my final entries into this challenge. The one up side to this challenge is that it made me draw everyday. Doing something everyday for 21 days forms a habit doesn’t it? Well, I’m still drawing since I stopped thi schallenge so may it’s true?
April 22
April 23
April 25
April 28
April 29
April 30
April 30, bonus
30 Faces, 30 Days Chalenge, Week 3, April 15-21
It was a bit of slog this week as I drew myself. Part of me thought about just getting the work done. Keep churning out stuff. And through that production I’ll get better. I now also have three weeks of self portraits that I could look back on to assess my progression. Here are a few thoughts: 1. I have a tendency to elongate my face. It’s quite obvious in this week’s drawings. I’ll have to be keep that in mind is this last week’s drawings. 2. I’m losing track of one of the objectives of this challenge which is to just bang them out. The week 1 drawings were the ones I produced in the shortest amount of time, the most accurate and loosest. I’m tightening up right now and need to return to my week 1 mentality.
April 15
April 16
April 17
April 18
April 19
April 20
April 21
30 Faces, 30 Days. April 8-14
Continuing with this challenge. I’m still in a mind set of what is a different way of drawing my face than the previous day’s iteration, be it through different medium or angle. Maybe I should just choose the same medium and pose and try to concentrate on depicting my face so it transcends it just being a self portrait and touches upon the deeper aspects of what makes my face my face. At least I’m aware of this mindset.
April 8, 2020
April 9, 2020
April 10, 2020
April 11, 2020
April 13, 2020
April 14, 2020
30 Faces, 30 days April 1-7, 2020
I’m trying to look at the positive of this COvid-19 induced self isolation. I’m trying to draw and paint more everyday since I was laid off 2 weeks ago. It’s easy to slip into a funk without the daily routine of work and extracurricular activities to keep me busy. I read somewhere busy is no longer an excuse for the lack of art making. Very true.
So there’s been a 30 faces, 30 day challenge floating around the interweb and I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. I’m on a draw from life binge lately, and since self isolation has cancelled the sessions I had arranged with a few friends, you’ll be seeing your’s truly for the next month! PArt of my personal objective is not to be too precious with these drawings. Just bang them out… or at least that’s the plan.
Here are the first 7 self portraits.
April 1, 2020
April 2, 2020
April 3, 2020
April 4, 2020
April 5, 2020
April 6, 2020
April 7, 2020
A Self Portrait and Everything But the Kitchen Sink....
I finally finished my latest self portrait. It was a fun painting to work on and opened up some potential avenues I could explore in future paintings. It also allowed me to paint things in groups. A little unsettling at times but I have to remember that I’m allowed to make mistakes and every painting doesn’t have to be a “masterpiece”!
The final piece can be seen here.
Self portrait
It’s been a few months since I did a self portrait, so I thought it’s time for another. A few more wrinkles, a little less hair and a whole lotta grey. Get it? Grey…
