Self portrait

Jean Kelly · 04-30-2003, 02:36 PM

Hi, maybe more figurative than a formal portrait, but says a lot about me.

I found Snickers in our back yard in the middle of a blizzard 4 years ago. She had severe frost bite on all feet, ears and tail. She couldn't walk for months (while her pads grew back) so lived on my body, in my pocket, or next to me on couch etc. She still does, sits on my shoulder or lap while I paint.

I'm trying a different palette on this one, softer, not as much contrast as I normally use. Cad scarlet, cad yellow light, cerulean blue, raw umber, and black. Still trying to get comfortable with the "low key" look.

This is a work in progress, 28 x 22 inches, oil on canvas. If you see anything to comment on, please do. Your critiques always make me work harder!

Jean

Jean Kelly · 04-30-2003, 02:37 PM

Me and Snickers again.

Steven Sweeney · 04-30-2003, 07:23 PM

I

Jean Kelly · 04-30-2003, 11:06 PM

I was just in the middle of responding to your kind reply when I was preempted by a nasty thunderstorm that took the power out. Lost everything I wrote.

So here goes again. I'm glad to hear that you're on your way back, I've thought of you often over in SARS country. From what I've read it appears that Taiwan has done a good job of protecting the population. Stay well.

I've made many of the changes already that you mentioned, the veins (I really like veins and muscles), softened the cheek and sweater, made the hair quieter, (it's not that bright) and done a lot of work on Snickers' fur. I have to let it dry now before I can do the last detail work. Snickers has long, long white whiskers. They will be fun.

I planned this time, had a photo shoot, planned what I would wear (to coordinate with Snicker's coloring) and planned the composition. All from what I have learned here. I love this site, it has been a godsend.

Me teach? Pity the poor student!

Thanks Steven.

Jean

Steven Sweeney · 04-30-2003, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Me teach? Pity the poor student!

You can't imagine how many are waiting, especially in a populated area like you're in. And if not you who can obviously do it, who else? Someone who can't?

And hey, might as well make a buck off your hard work.

You're very good, and you should be capitalizing on it.

My son and I are in the midst of the worst of SARS right now. Two hospitals (and part of another) quarantined. Draconian measures everywhere. The airport activity at a 24-year low.

I'm not worried, on a relative-risk scale. Just a few more weeks here and then gone. Trouble is, my son tapped into his new school's website (in Austin, Texas) to discover a school district alert that some Easter-traveling families had pneumonia and it was suspected SARS. Turns out it -- we're told -- wasn't. Might as well stay in Taipei for now.

Mari DeRuntz · 05-01-2003, 12:04 AM

Besides seconding all of Steven's comments, I'm seeing the hands as too large.

By the way, I can feel the weight and movement of the cat!

I'm also glad you created this interesting narrative instead of a self-portrait from that old studio photograph. Brava, that takes panache.

Steven Sweeney · 05-01-2003, 12:11 AM

Quote:

I'm seeing the hands as too large.

I'd briefly thought that, too, but the hands are in fact well in front of the figure, in perspective, so the effect could be, I thought, dealt with by minimizing edges and value changes that brought attention to those features.

If you put the heel of your hand on your chin, the tip of your index finger hits your hair line. Hands are pretty big! (We often visualize hands as the size of our palms, plus fingers. Fingers stick out there quite a ways.) [Correction: I misstated that measurement -- the distance from chin to hairline is instead the span from tip of the thumb to tip of the middle finger.]

Mari DeRuntz · 05-01-2003, 12:20 AM

Uh oh, does this mean my hairline is going the way of my brothers'?

In all seriousness, I guess that's the balance: what is absolutely correct and what is illusion. I think you might be right, simple corrections in modeling will fix the size illusion.

Jean Kelly · 05-01-2003, 10:30 AM

Hi, I felt that way too, so stood in the mirror with a yardstick, posed like I was holding Snickers and measured the mirror image. I was surprised to see that it was accurate, so hoped that with more shading and rounding they would look more "normal". Also measured in relation to my head (felt pretty stupid there in the mirror). Also, with working on shadows on Snickers it may get better.

I'll post an update if I can get a good picture today. Its pretty stormy still.

Mari, thanks for the panache comment. I'm glad I didn't paint the other one too. This one has been great fun!

Jean

Jean Kelly · 05-01-2003, 01:33 PM

Getting there but still working on hair, hands, glasses and sweater.

Jean