Self Portrait

Amanda Grosjean · 03-23-2009, 09:55 AM

Hello!

I am guilty of enjoying everyone's paintings and not putting up my own. As retribution I am sharing my recently completed self portrait.

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

Debra Jones · 03-23-2009, 12:33 PM

I love it all the way to the blue on the arm.

Self portraits are that great way to let loose the impulse. I walk past mirrors and stop like the dog in the commercial, noticing the light on my hair, a reflection in my glasses etc. The impulse to catch the moment that makes US us! I can feel my own inspiration in this piece and have a real sense of being inside that person blowing their hair, a bit too tired to stand over the sink, and already messed up from painting or too lost in a thought to have noticed it in the shower!

Love it.
dj*

Carol Norton · 03-23-2009, 12:41 PM

Love it! So beautifully composed, drawn and painted! It's really wonderful. Thanks for posting your self-portrait.

Claudemir Bonfim · 03-23-2009, 06:07 PM

Great job!

Amanda Grosjean · 03-24-2009, 09:53 AM

Thank you everyone!

Those were my exact intentions, Debra, I was so pleased you picked up on that. I really wanted to do a self portrait that was different from 'the artist standing before the canvas with brushes and a palette'. Being an artist is so much more than that. After I have been standing in front of the canvas all day and I am showering, there are times that I still see that image as I close my eyes because it has been burned into my retina. And I am constantly thinking about what I could have done better and developing strategies. It is something that never really goes away just because I punch the time clock. That is what makes us artists.
And yes, I am always missing paint on that part of my arm.

Terri Ficenec · 03-24-2009, 10:22 AM

Hi Amanda--
The paint on the arm is priceless

and I love that concerned expression. Such a compelling self portrait! Beautiful work.

Allan Rahbek · 04-01-2009, 05:50 PM

Hi Amanda,
I like your self portrait with the blue hint and the stretcher. I also think that the composition is strong, the diagonal dividing the space into two halves reserving one half to mere brush strokes. You are a painter, a fine one!!!

Amanda Grosjean · 04-02-2009, 08:54 AM

Thank you so much everyone.

Alexandra Tyng · 04-05-2009, 06:16 PM

Amanda,

I've been meaning to tell for some time that I love your self-portrait. For me it expresses the conflict between being an artist (doing what I love), having too many other things to do, and still trying to be a presentable, attractive and well-groomed person who looks normal to the outside world, i/e. at the grocery store. The paint on the arm does say a lot. It is very, very well painted also.