Shattered; a self portrait

[David Dowbyhuz]

I've been trying self-portraits of late. Here's my most recent, an oil on a 22" x 24" stretched canvas. You may notice, I work my paint very thin. The detail below is four layers of pigment.

Rgds,
Dave

[Laura B. Shelley]

Looking at this I sense a lot of tension: strong emotions held in tight check in spite of the broken barrier between the subject and the viewer. Not a comfortable image, but a powerful one. Those acid greens put the idea over very well, IMO.

Laura Shelley

[David Dowbyhuz]

Thanks, Laura. I rarely travel anywhere without my pocket Nikon digi-camera. While on a walk back in October my wife and I came upon a vandalized bus-stop outside the local high school. We're lucky enough to have a very peace-able neighborhood, with low incidents of such wanton destruction, so this caught my attention. The old far too easy to destroy than create quotient I suppose.

In any event, while mentally shaking my head amidst the strong autumn sun my wife took my photo from the opposing side. I felt, like you, that there was a certain (not necessarily intended) intensity to the moment. When viewing the image for the first time I remarked to my wife "What a scowly expression!". She came back with, "You do that all the time!".

Thanks for looking in,
Dave

[Sharon Knettell]

This is a dramatic and unusual self portrait,utilizing the shattered window as an uncoventional framing motif.

[Chris Saper]

David,

I like this piece. So very original!

[David Dowbyhuz]

Thank you Sharon & Chris. Your words are appreciated!

Regards,
Dave