It’s #SelfieArt Day today (25th April) so I thought I’d have a go.
Now, regular visitors know that my Selfies are somewhat strange things, usually consisting only of the top of my head, but lately, my eyes have been getting something of a showing as well. I decided to use one of these Selfies for my first ever actual watercolour (on paper) painting. I usually do digital stuff (badly – but I have a go!) but lately I’ve been getting the urge to use watercolours and oils.
I’ve bought myself an easel, a set of paints – two actually – several stretched canvases (is that canvi?) and umpteen different sized brushes… and haven’t used any of them yet. Instead, I also bought myself a couple of mixed media A4 sized ring-bound art pads and a tin of el-cheapo watercolour paints which came with a brush. And it is with these that I have produced my first ever cartoon watercolour. Just for a practice run, I must add.
I was expecting a masterpiece and got a smudge.
The face is blotchy and a strange yellow/red colour, but I decided to use that photo anyway. The hair is terrible, but I’m used to that. And the eyes are two different sizes – something I hadn’t really noticed before, until I started analysing my features in minute detail. Not different in size as in Quasimodo (or is that Popeye? I always get them mixed up) standards, but noticeable never the less when you look. Unless the photo was taken when I had one of my eye-twitches. That must be it. The large eye had a blain at the time of the photo as well, so that could have been slightly swollen. I’ll go with that as well.
So, I quickly sketched a basic head shape, popped in a couple of odd-sized eyes, and scribbled a few strands of hair. Then, I used most of the yellow paint filling in the gaps.
I’m my own worst enemy, and gave myself just one hour to do it in. Time’s short, and I’m well behind on my blog visiting and replying to comments, yet here I was painting.
The more I painted, the more the el-cheapo brush’s bristles started to flare outwards. When it came to painting the eyes, the bristles were that far akimbo every stroke went beyond where I intended them… so the odd-sized eyes became even odder. I just went with it. Five minutes left, I had no time to worry about such things.
The strokes became dabs and then that was it. Time was up. The result is published above, with the original Selfie (although I shan’t say which is which!)
The last Selfie I painted, digitally, was this one:
This one, however, was completely from memory, and it was at a time when I desperately needed a haircut. I think it was this one anyway, my memory isn’t quite what it used to be.
So, there we have it. A first for this blog. I doubt I’ll be getting any commissions for portraits to appear on bank notes or anything like that, but that doesn’t matter. I spent a good hour sploshing a few colours around, and the next hour being hyper-critical on myself. All in jest, obviously!
With thanks to Charlie at Doodlewash, who told me about the SelfieArt Day, and naturally I had to create something… I have a 2,000th post deadline to meet. But I’m not giving up… I’ve got all that gear to use now, and good or not so good, it’s all good! I’m sure practice will make perfect. Watch this space!
The Mansionic Perspective 
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