Blog

Yes, I'm very behind on my blog posts! What do I do with my time?

Painting...

Tripping (often) across the state for family responsibilities...

Emptying the house of all our furniture and possessions in preparation for new hardwood floors...

Replacing the furniture and possessions after evaluating what really didn't need to return...

Researching family history which resulted in finding MANY new wonderful cousins...

Gardening...

Chicken tending...

Painting...

Teaching...

Gathering with old friends...

Quilting...

Making new friends...

Painting...

And every moment of that busy-ness is worthwhile, fun, frustrating, exhilarating, physically demanding, mentally exhausting, peaceful, exciting, necessary, challenging, and inspiring. And I wouldn't change a thing.

So the big news came in December. When I received the email, I was certain they'd made a terrible mistake and that an email correcting the mistake would soon be forthcoming. 

Surprise! No mistake! My pastel self-portrait was awarded a finalist placement in the Portrait Society of America Member's Only Competition. I am so honored, humbled, and thrilled to have been awarded that distinction. 

The self-portrait was a bit of play, experimentation, and learning for me. I began by laying down an underpainting of greens on the paper and washing them with clean mineral spirits. I knew that I wanted the greens to be a complement to my pink and red skin tones, as well as to work with the olive cast of my skin.  Next I began sketching my likeness while looking in a mirror. I started with the eyes, which is where I often start when I'm painting a portrait. After getting my eyes where they should be (and they moved often!) I moved to the other features.  I experimented with various colors in order to reflect how the light fell across my face. I deliberated about stroke direction on the various planes of my face. And then I got wild and crazy with those colors and strokes, adding purples for the hair streak and shadows, greens and blues in the skin tones to unify the portrait with the background, small touches of white to brighten, and bold strokes of white for the unkempt hair. The portrait eventually had layers upon layers of pigment, and I worked very hard not to cover every layer so that the colors would vibrate against each other. I added the spectacles, for I'm never without them, but I forgot my earrings--which I'm never without!

This painting was so much fun! And I'm excited that the Portrait Society of America recognized it worthy of finalist distinction.

You can see the winning portraits at this link: http://www.portraitsociety.org/moc-2017-winners

Enjoy! Happy Painting!