Wednesday, April 15, 2009

New Painting: Alice Neel-Inspired Self-Portrait

Here is my second self-portrait that I did last weekend, this time inspired by Alice Neel:
My Self-Portrait:
It's another 9 x 12" oil painting.  I have always admired Neel's portraits for their rawness and seeming effortlessness.  Neel makes her portraits by having the sitter sit in a chair for a long period of time until they move into their most natural sitting position.  I thought in order to express what I really look like, I could depict my terrible posture when I am sitting on a stool painting for a long time.  I started out with a heavy blue outline from sketches I did of myself, exaggerating the curves and length of the body, and added light washes of color to complete it.  I think it is a fairly good likeness, especially since this is a challenge for me.  I don't ever do portraits!  I had fun painting this because it was loose and free, and it didn't take more than a couple of hours.  Stay tuned for the third self-portrait I completed this weekend.

6 comments:

  1. beware the Alexander Technique! they'll all look the same :) I enjoy speedy paintings - especially by children.

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  2. I'm glad to see you're painting for the fun of it these days! You've been very prolific. I especially like this one.

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  3. I enjoyed your self-portraits. I look forward to the 3rd one. :)

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  4. Lovely work. I think you did a great job. I love hearing about your techniques as much as viewing your work. Both are so inspiring. Thank you.

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  5. Hi Christine,

    I also haven't started doing portraits yet, at least in a more serious way.
    Portraiture demands a good draftmanship and it's in my opinion one of the most(if not the most) difficult subjects.
    It's all a matter of practicing and I'm sure that you look much more pretty than in the painting :-)
    I do think that you did well on the position by keeping it homogenous.

    Best regards,

    José

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