Doing Those Self-portraits

I think that artists should do self-portraits every so often. I have blogged about that before. I don't have live models available to work from,  so if I do a self-portrait, I get a cheap model and can get a figurative work done.  I try to get one self-portrait and maybe a still-life into my portfolio on a regular basis.

Over the past two weeks I have done two small acrylics  and one graphite self-portraits. With the acrylics I approached them from a weird angle, and did the same view twice, but with difference crops. 

"Retrospective #1"    acrylic     4 x 4"

 

" Retrospective #2"       Acrylic        4 x 4"

The graphite is a straight on view, looking strait at the mirror.....but I cropped it so just one side of my face is portrayed. [The' alive' side?] 

So...what do you think? Did I succeed in capturing provocative pieces?

 "Self"    graphite      10 x 3"

It is a very rain day out...and I am only now getting to actually work in the studio...just one of those days!

From The Loft Series On Going

This morning I had a chance to get this painting really going. This is a view of our Cob mare Trevillion Victoria as seen from our loft, as I sat on the hay piled up to the high loft window. The sun was drenching the new fallen snow with purple and blue shadows thrown by the forest trees that fence our mares' winter paddock. It all begged to be painted!

I started this painting on a burgundy toned ground that I applied to the already gessoed canvas ..and sketched the mare with white pastel to get my composition correct. Then I started the painting with casein....

With Ultramarine Blue Deep and Shiva Violet, I figured out where I wanted my blue and purple shadows. The casein then needed to dry and that takes a while..so I worked on my newsletter and made some calls to clients...then back I went over the casein with acrylic...Titanium white....and the acrylic always picks up some of then casein ..blending and creating a glaze that I couldn't get with straight casein. The acrylic drys quickly and creates a skin over the casein...so for the next phase I won't be picking up so much of the dark blue and purple of the casein.

At this point the paint is mixing with the toned background and the casein... and so starts this 30 x 40" canvas for the "From The Loft" series.

The other two paintings in this series can been seen on my website in the Equine and Domestic Animals Collection . While this Loft painting dries, about 24 hours, I will be working on a commission that is all casein.....and it will be handled differently.