Selfportrait

Jan Verhulst · 06-17-2007, 01:45 PM

http://bp1.blogger.com/_9BiWatWzbfU/..._0111+copy.jpg
Oil on canvas. About 2 hours Thanks for looking and feedback.

Enzie Shahmiri · 06-17-2007, 05:40 PM

It's very abstract and looks like you had fun with it.

Claudemir Bonfim · 06-18-2007, 09:48 AM

I liked that a lot! I'd surely hang it on my wall.

Thomasin Dewhurst · 06-18-2007, 12:13 PM

Nice self-portrait, Jan. Nice solid skull, and great integration of subject and background.

Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco · 06-19-2007, 04:39 AM

Jan, a very nice work, reminiscent of Cezanne's late self portraits.

The handling of the paint is confident and free, and the colour harmony works well.
I find though, that you have structured the skull and face better than the jaw, and if you are willing to put more work in it you could really go into the neck and shoulders to give them more solidity. That part is the one that I find always difficult: the muscles that start just under the ear and connect where the collar bones meet are my biggest nightmare.

If you look at Cezanne you can't help but noticing his real presence in the painting, and I think that in your work you are there but not completely. Maybe either you paint your eyes more thoroughly so that you are really looking at us, or you insist on your phisical weight and really get into the anatomy of the neck and the width of the shoulders, in order to make the portrait stronger and more captivating.
In any case the most important thing is that this is a picture that really works as a painting and not only as a portrait
Ilaria

Alexandra Tyng · 06-19-2007, 07:41 AM

Jan,

Although I agree with Ilaria on the points she has made, I also could be quite satisfied with this portrait as it is. For one thing, it is very solid in its proportions and you've recorded the forms with a convincing shorthand of brushstrokes, as if you were accustomed to taking notes very fast and accurately. The other reason I like it is that the head was conceived along with the background, or space around it, as one thing, and the head is now in the proces of emerging from the flatness of the ground. True, you could go further, but it works as is because it is a solid foundation.

Jan Verhulst · 06-19-2007, 07:50 AM

Enzie, Claudemir an Thomasin, thanks for the kind feedback!
Ilaria, special thanks for taking the time to give such an interesting and extended feedback: ! I've got the feeling that I was following a script painting my portraits. I want to be more free from copying en go for some expressionisme. I try to inspire meself with the paintings of Ann Gale, Thomasin Dewhurst, Rik Wouters and Oscar Kokoschka. I dont really know what I'm doing, the only guidance I take is the contradiction to 'deforming the face by color and brushwork, without loosing the form'. I know, I know...