My latest self portrait.
 

I brought it in to class today to show Chris Saper. I have had a dilly of a time getting the color balanced and when it posts I am sure it will show differently again, but here goes.

This is a crop (approx. 16" x 20" but it is not framed or stretched yet, so it may end up square) of my 20" x 20" oil on canvas. I underpainted the whole surface with French ultramarine blue and wiped lights back. It is a new instant grisaille that has been working for me like gangbusters.

I would be happy to hear your responses. I really feel I have found a technique I can live with and exploit. Maybe not exactly traditional, but definitely MINE.

Thanks in advance.

dj*, I don't know how this looks on your monitor or in real time, but it looks great on mine. I love what the blue does to the tone of the painting and the way you let it show through in places. Your brushstrokes are distinct and authoritative and the painting works beautifully. And what did you mean by "wiped lights back"? I use an ultramarine blue underpainting, but it's not really a tonal study but more of a blocking in, so I'm interested in any new ways of dealing with this.

Looking forward to more of these!

Leslie

If you want to see the progress,
 

The demo is at wetcanvas.
I started it all with a piece of my brother last week with a green underpainting.
I rubbed a wash of thinned color OFF with turps on a rag and scrubbed dark in making a down and dirty value sketch, then matched values as I went ala:

Thanks, dj*! I get the picture now... The portrait of your brother is good but I really love your self-portrait. It's got so much energy!

I love both of these.

You're grooving on your own style and I like it!

Controlling the energy...
 

Personally I think the blue colors are taking away too much of the qualities of the composition. I would have liked to see this piece in true colours instead of a blue painting with only the skin-tones in 'real colours'. The tonal structure of this piece could have been more interesting if the colour of your clothing hadn't been too much absorbed in the overall blueish colourscheme.

After seeing this one and more of your work, this is my impression; The handling of the paint is often very powerfull, but also very crude and messy at places. The transitions between dark and lighter areas suffer from the crudeness of the handling of the paint. I would prefer a more diverse approach. Subtle modelling at places and a bold and powerful approach at other places. That way it would gain a certain dynamic. Often it's the same energy everywhere which creates a very restless impression.

Also, I think your work would benefit from reworking certain areas more. Your paintings (the top-layer) often seem to have been painted 'in one go'. I would like to see what would happen if you would very carefully construct a composition and model it very elaborately on the canvas. Or just take things more slowly.

I really like the expression in this one, Debra. Most artists' self portraits have that intense stare we all seem to wear when concentrating hard on a painting, but this is very refreshing.

As for the "wipe off" technique, it sounds similar to what Marvin teaches, except that he uses an earth tone underpainting. He tones the canvas and then wipes out the light areas while it is still wet.

Experiments abound.
 

Thanks for the comments.

I only just this month did what I would call a fully traditional piece from the Chris Saper workshop. I did a couple of dark backgrounds with well worked and cleanly modulated skin. I felt satisfied but got a rash of input from my peers about the LACK of my personal style.

I work alla prima. Habit from 80% open studio over the last 5 years. I can whip a nice loose 20x16 in three hours. Sort of like jogging. I do likeness well. BUT I have not had to please a model in many moons. The latest excercises have forced me to work and re-work.

I am not comfortable with the traditional glazing and layering of paint. I am a bad planner and it does not suit my temperment. I think this rash of experiments is a rebound from the tightness I have been exploring. I still like working alla prima, but this underpainting has really freed me from tackling everything at once.

Building the likeness in gray tones, the way I LIKE to do it, much like a charcoal drawing, is easy and exciting. Overpainting is manic. I have not slept much because I am so able to paint more as I was taught only making color choices, not value decisions, and fighting the likeness etc.

The defense of the colored surface is a marketing idea. I want to see if the style works, I may market through designers so I will be able to guarantee I will match the sofa BEFORE I take on the commission!
;)

Here is the piece from Chris's class.
http://forum.portraitartist.com/atta...=&postid=29794

That piece from Chris's class doesn't look like your work, dj*. I like your style and miss it in such a formal approach. Peter, different strokes for different folks - I love her self-portrait. Maybe you'd be happier calling it a figurative work, since it's obviously not a standard salon-type painting, but I find it fresh, appealing and exciting. One of the neat things about this forum is the range of treatments - so many wonderful painters, each with his or her own trademark style.

Leslie

I agree with you completely, but since this is the critique-section, I try to give comments from my point of view.

Hi Debra,

Having seen this painting in person, I think the colors look really true.

I think that the complementary color scheme you have here is very pleasing, and successful. I liked the fresh, lively feeling of the piece, and might offer only a very minor comment with regard to the composition (which I find to be overall original and well thought out): the brush handles are forming a tangent with the white rectangle in the background, running paralled to the white edge, the top of the canvas, and other horizontals; the handles seem to be advancing after they leave your hand on our right, but my feeling is that the sharp edges in the ferrules and handle silhouettes may be causing this illusion.

I really like this painting.

Thank you.
 

I may keep this square.

I think what you are seeing, Chris is the spare brush going at a slight downward angle. I was working to think circle. Not that all the extra really is useful, but on the whole picture that tends to echo the arm going out on the bottom. Think wide oval and see if it fits this whole better.

I also see how the bit of the brush past my thumb needs clarification. I need to connect it more clearly to the handle so it doesn't turn back again.

Editing.... did you mean by tangent that it was hard to distinguish the background from the foreground? I felt happy with the rhythm of the horizontals. The subtle turn of the arm in front and the back direction of the brushes, not exactly straight were all to make that internal spin.

I was hoping while looking at the details in the brushes, you would subliminally see the glasses. They are usually on my nose but the boyfriend actually said he liked looking at my WHOLE face so I put them on top.

Hi Debra,

I do like the energy in this and all your work.

You may feel that your formal exercise was tight and not quite recognizable as your style, but it still looks like your painting to me. So even if you try to mask it, I don't believe that you will be able to shake your energetic look.

Jean

I didn't even see those glasses, dj*, for what it's worth. But I see what Chris is saying, although it still works for me. The only thing about the background that I find distracting is the shape on the righthand side, above and to the right of that shoulder, which I keep trying to resolve into a head with one hand covering its forehead. For some reason it keeps drawing my eye toward it. Otherwise my eye travels where I suspect you want it to.

...well I have a lamp, an easel and an Egyptian Mummy... is that more helpful?
dj*:bewildere

Aha, it's the mummy! (Sounds like the title to a mystery novel...) Well, if it doesn't bother anyone else I'd leave it be. It may just be a personal quirk of mine, that I find it distracting. Thanks for shedding light on the subject.

Leslie