Self-portrait
 

Hi,
this is my second try.
16X20. From life.
Some days, I like it, and some other days, I don't.
I think I need some fresh eyes to know if I stop here or not.

Marina, my first impression:
I think this really deserves more work, I mean it does not need it but it deserves it, because it is a very intense work, with such a strong look in your eyes!
I personally would address the neck, the face looks a little like it is floating, maybe you can investigate more the way the neck turns under your right ear.
Also another thing might be to loosen up the way you have painted the hair: perhaps softening the edges and blend them more into the forehead, and putting the light and darks more in relationship with the forehead, which after all it is hit by the same light (look at Rubens, he could really paint hair).

Ultimately this is a painting FOR YOU, and you can push it to the extremes, its structure is obviously very solidly understood and can support a good amount of paint, don't be afraid of ruining it, you have done it once, you can do it again.
You obviously are very skilled in drawing. I think you should abandon your safety net of drawing and show off the same confidence in painting, by allowing the colors coming out of their boundaries (edges)?
I think this work will become increasingly interesting for you from now on, and subsequently more interesting to the viewer, if you don't treat it as a piece of well executed painting (that you proved you can do), but rather as an occasion to try and push yourself into unknown territory.

I think it could be interesting for you to go and look again at artists you like, do you have the little Phaidon book of 500 self portraits?
Gosh, I am afraid I have been too harsh, but I am working on a self portrait too these days, and this is what I am trying to tell myself
With solidarity
Ilaria

Marina, I congratulate you on this self portrait done from life, it feels unflinching and honest and direct - all good things! I also like the design element of the scarf, a nice touch.

I would just echo Ilaria to say that this feels more like a drawing than a painting.

What kind of lighting did you use here, by the way?

Marina, this is a fine accomplishment! You have a lovely face with interesting bone structure; I imagine it was a pleasure to paint. The color and modeling seem accurate.

It's true that you could put on more paint, especially in the light areas. This might naturally happen as you paint more with oils--or you may have to force it a little by adding more paint at the end, in selected areas. To get the feeling of a loaded paintbrush, mix your color, scrape it all together with a palette knife, then scoop up a generous amount with the tip of your brush.

The other thing that hits me are the edges. I think many are too defined. The lips, for instance, the lower eyelash area, and the bottom of the face and the neck. The hair also. If you get the features in the right place, you will NOT ruin the likeness by painting the light areas looser and thicker.

Marina, I think it's lovely - to me you are capturing a real sense of your elegance and warmth, which I think is very rare in self portraits. It's fittingly classical too - Ingres and David come to mind immediately... an intentional reference I shouldn't wonder?

I do agree that the neck, particularly on the viewers left, isn't working yet though - I wonder if you are just trimming a bit off your jaw there? I'd be tempted to give the area a wash of the darker pink from your lower cheek and rework the highlights. And perhaps you could narrow the neck slightly to add to the elegance of the pose.

There's also perhaps a little too much going on in the highlights of your eyes that is giving your expression a slightly glazed feel - its marginal but your gaze is so wonderful otherwise that I think its worth trying to rectify this small issue... to me there's a slightly pink bulge in the white of your eye furthest to the left edge of the painting that I'd even out... and I wonder if the highlight under your inner lash line in the other eye needs darkening?

That's what I would probably be tempted to fiddle with first anyway - my apologies for being so particular because I really do think its lovely. Hope you will post it again if you do rework it!

What a pleasure this is to see. I love the direct boldness of the face.

I am so impressed that this effort is from life. This is the proper way to begin and learn. Photographs never give you all the information you need and most beginners I noticed are tracing them and filling in the color. That is not the way to a definable style.

Two things I would work on:

A: The neck area. Squint as you are looking at it , soften the area of the farthest collar bone and some of the neck muscles.
B: The color. Remember the complementaries. If you use a yellow green scarf, a cool red background would be appropriate. Work the color arrangement out before you start. Keep changing the background drape until you find the right color harmony. You will know, it should have a pleasant vibration. Do quick small color studies first. They save you a lot of time in the end.

This is an outstanding portrait. It's much better than what I can do. Perhaps you need a little bit more warm colors in your portrait. Maybe if you had taken a better photograph of your painting it would look better online.

Ilaria,
Thank you for pointing things like the neck and the hair, I think I knew I had to work more on it but ( laziness, lack of interrest ?) didn't really want to hear it. Now ,I have no choice... :)
I realised that, when I began this, it was totally enough if I could obtain a well executed painting, so it was a sort of revelation when you told me to push myself into unknown territories. It sounds evident to me now that I have to make a try. If I don't do it on this piece, when will I do?
Good luck in your unknown territories, I hope you will show the result: I always love your color harmonies.
( the phaidon book is on my birthday list )

Linda,
maybe I moved too quickly from drawing to painting ( from life), my drawing becomes accurate after spending hours and hours on it.
When I painted this, there was a moment where there was nice brush strokes, and nice colors, but not exactly at the right place, or the right value. I worked again hours on it , and lost this freshness, to obtain the exact likeness I wanted ( almost).
I work at the only place at home where I can do this : I have a window on my left ( south-west: I had to work on the mornings, and the cloudy afternoons. I was the only one who was happy when we had a rainy day!) And I have another small window far back on my right.
Thank you for your nice words.

I'm going to write more later, baby finished sleeping too early.

Alex,
I agree with edges. anyway, I'm going to try something looser and thicker ( I like those words) I'm sure that in one or two hundred more paintings it will come naturally ...
Oh. I'm SOOOO happy to know that I have an interesting bone structure, nobody told me that before!

Hi Mary Jane,
in fact, my idea was to give a 18th century feeling, but it sounds that it's more 19th century finally. It's OK, Ingres is one of my heros. :sunnysmil
I'm going to check the details you pointed, and certainly you will see the result.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.

Sharon,
thank you. I think I'm going to print all those suggestions to be sure that I don't forget something...
I wanted to make a quick small study before, but finally spent 6 or 7 hours on it before I decide it was too much for a "quick" study. And finally, as it was a very sunny day, it didn't help me at all for the colors.
I'm not sure exactly what a color study should be like. Someone could post one exemple, please? I understand the concept, but a picture would be helpful to visualize it...

Judson,
I know the photo have some glare ( I just oiled it out because lots of earth colors sunk) I did my best to minimized it.
thanks for the comment.

Marina,

If you want to see some examples of color studies, I've posted two examples on this forum. Here are the links:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=6111

http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=6260

They usually take me about 40-45 minutes, but if you are less impatient and more meticulous than I, then you might want to take a couple of hours.The exact time doesn't matter.

Hi Marina

I kept thinking about this yesterday and realised it was a Vigee Le Brun your expression reminded me of most...

http://www.batguano.com/VLBSP1782.jpg

I saw the original recently and was struck with the same sense of her warmth... funnily as I was looking for this reproduction I noticed she found some interesting ways to deal with the problem of joining head to neck! :-)

http://www.batguano.com/mcritt.jpg

Thanks Alex!
I was interrested to see your nice exemples...

Mary Jane,
finally, a bit more 18th century?
I always loved how Mme Vig

Marina, your changes are subtle but they make a significant difference. It's a lovely self-portrait. My feeling is that you should move on to the next painting now, to avoid overworking this. Making quicker oil studies would be an excellent exercise. In fact, any painting from life, including 2-hour landscape sketches, would be helpful. Start thin, cover the canvas, and then try to get the essence of what you see. If you push yourself in this direction, I think you will find that you naturally have to use more paint and not fuss over details.

Alex

Marina, I absolutely second Alex's advice.
In this work you have solved the problems we have pointed out, but I have a strong sensation that you are ready to take the leap and start buttering your canvas in paint, now that you have showed to yourself and to all of us how solid is your drawing background.

If you have a chance to add to your gift list I would recommend the new book on Sorolla, a luscious paint handler.
Indicating form with only a stroke of the brush is the ultimate experience for a painter!
Well done for this work anyway, I think I'll chuck mine and start again, I became really depressed about its potential and I want to try a very limited earth palette!
Ilaria

Hi Marina, I have been quite busy lately and on rare occasions just glanced at what is up on the forum.

Your self portrait is looking real good. As I was scanning the different comments and suggestions, all good, a thought came to mind and I thought to share this with you. This is what I thought and what I would do my self.
Set this painting aside. Pick another canvas, preferably with finer weave, smoother, and start another self portrait. Draw it out and lay in the dead coloring and do not move to detail until the shapes of the dead color are perfect. Make sure that your individual shapes and dead color area is smooth, unified, even and no lumps ripples. When you have this stage perfect then and only then start to create form by adding half tones first to big shapes. Remember the edges of each shape in dead color stage are to touch and should not be sharp rather blurred but not blended, at least in this initial stage. Remember each stage should be perfectly executed before moving on from one to the other. If you decide to try this method you will reach your goal faster and the results will be amassing.

Wish you the best,
mischa

Great to see this version. The gaze has lost that slighty glassy look and you seem to softened the mouth and the neck so it's all gelling more harmoniously.

I'll third Alex's comments - if I may do such a thing! I think it's time to say very well done on this and onwards and upwards to the next.

I'm really impressed that this is only your second self portrait attempt by the way... I have many, many unfinished self portraits (thankfully for others they will stay turned to the wall;-) so I do sympathise with IIaria here but for all their pains I dare say there is litle that compares as a marker of your improvements.

You have inspired me! I must start another soon!!!

Alex
Great! That's exactly what I was thinking!
I still have lot of things to learn, but I especially need some practice. So, if everybody agrees, I'm planning a few more self-portraits ( Mme Vig

Hi Marina, dead color is the color that you see when you squint while looking at your face, in shadow or in light.

Wish you the best,
mischa

Hi,
after working from life all spring and summer, I thought that I could push this painting a little further. I didn't really like some of the skin tone and some other details. So I reworked it, and then it was selected as a finalist of the Portrait Society of Canada !
http://www.portraitsociety.ca/index.html

So for the first time of my life, I had a real contact with portrait artists, and it was very nice to see that they are not virtual !!! I saw my first life demonstrations, and it was completely fascinating. I'm very impatient to go back to work...

So, here is the update photo of my self-portrait, and this is it, framed, at the gala.

Marina that's such wonderful news!!

So pleased for you - and how fabulous to have seen the portraits development on this thread. A most deserved honorable mention too - congratulations! I hope it leads on to many new and exciting opportunities for you.

All the best
MJ

Just out of curiosity; is this an oil painting or an acrylic painting?

Big congratulations to you, Marina - what a wonderful, well-deserved award! I am so happy for your success! (I'm also envious that you were at the convention. I also really enjoy watching other artists at work.)

Way to go, Marina! This is just incredibly exciting! Congratulations on your very well-deserved award. With the combination of exceptional talent and incredibly hard work, the sky is the limit!

Congratulation Marina!
I hope this will generate work for you, but I am sure it has already given you a lot of self confidence and inspiration for keeping up with this success.
Ilaria

Mary Jane, Linda ,Alex ,Ilaria : thank you very much !
Yes I was very excited, and very intimidated too at the beginning, I was feeling like a baby in comparison with some much more experienced portrait artists... But what a nice way to celebrate my first year of painting portraits!
( Sorry to tell you, Alex, I never worked hard : only had a lot of fun )

One of the things that struck me was the enthousiasm, the deep joy of the artists when they were creating in front of us. Some get really excited by the curve of an eyelid, some other by a special bone, or a shadow...
I think that as long as you feel this enthousiasm, there's no limit...


Judson : it's the Oil critique section, and it's an oil painting.

Marina-- Congratulations! The changes in the update are subtle but so right ! :sunnysmil Excellent likeness. . . and lovely photo of you with the painting. It would make a great shot on an 'about the artist' page on your website. . .

No way ! Never use a flash, only a single light source , remember ? :)
Thank you Terri.