10/16/13 – I’ve started a new self portrait. I’ve been wanting to somehow incorporate my halftone dots into a non-anamorphic portrait so it thought I’d try something new. I have a few large canvases covered with halftone dots from abandoned projects that never made the light of day. My thought is that if I can take care in applying the next few layers of paint I might be able to preserve some of the texture of the halftone dots.
At this early stage of painting, there are some promising signs that it will help me add some noise to the surface if nothing else. I’ve laid out the portrait with acrylic paint and used Caran d’Ache Neocolor crayons for the purplish line work. These crayons are really great because they draw like a wax crayon, but they are water soluble so they are responsive to a wet brush or my finger, as I prefer to use.
I’m drawing on a dry canvas and returning to it with the squirt bottle and manipulating it with my hands.
The underlying halftone dots are showing through on the chin as I hoped they would. After this dries I’ll know how it’s going to work out. It’s just an experiment that will result in another giant self portrait regardless of how it works out. This already reminds me of a Chuck Close self portrait – the one with the thick frames and a cigarette.
Note: I am trying to do a time lapse video of my process, so that’s why there are actual photos of me working. I do not have a photographer documenting my work in the studio.
10/22 – I spent a few hours on the canvas sharpening up the features and adding some whiskers. When I paint at this scale everything seems to move along so much faster.
10/25 – Katy gifted me with a Friday Night Studio Night! Beautiful cool weather and a night of good music and paint splorping every where. The first thing I did tonight was paint the frames black. I really liked the purple, but the black made things pop. I worked on the eyes immediately after and they made me laugh for the rest of the night. Pretty freaky expression, but that’s what I look like, so no apologies. I fleshed out the face a lot and worked on the mustache and beard and the mouth.
After about 4 hours of solitude, I left refreshed and so very happy. I feel like this painting is just about finished. I know it’s close because I worked on the hair and when I get busy with the hair it usually means I’m happy with the rest of the face. I just noticed that my nose is life-sized.
10/29 – While listening to Lou Reed’s ‘New York’ I added the last touches to this large self portrait. Finished!
