How/Why I Painted It & Who It Is
Here are two self-portraits, one from the distant past and one more recent. The first one was my first self-portrait painted from a small photo of a memorable trip years ago.
I wanted to see if I could paint a likeness and also if I could get the look of the dress as well which was quite colorful and abstract looking. By the way, I can say that was my first abstract too! It was also the first time painting on silk.
My second self-portrait was done using a more recent photo, and does resemble me. I like the pose and the monochrome look of it.
How I Feel About This Painting
What I like about the first painting is that it was my first attempt at doing a self-portrait and also I had to use artistic license for some of the painting. I don't think I got the likeness down very well but it was enough to make me want to do more and more portraits and figurative paintings.
I like the second one because it is more like a study with using one color except for the background and by the time I painted it, I had a lot more experience doing portraits and figurative paintings.
Tips and Tricks
- If you've never tried painting on silk you're missing out on a wonderful material other than just the ordinary canvas and other fabrics.
- Don't give up if you don't get a likeness, keep trying.
- I like portraits that have the subject posing in natural looking settings other than looking like they posed for a photograph.
