Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Halloween

Portrait class—Halloween self portrait

Self portrait
22X30 Rives print paper

Our assignment this week was to come in costume with a mirror to do a "Halloween" self portrait. I arrived in a $3 green witches hat with a black veil, green eye shadow, blackish/red lipstick and a large silver cross and pearls around my neck. Jerry asked if I walked through town that way and I said yes, but no one noticed. I blended right in...I think...

This is the process, I described a few posts back, using burnt sienna oil paint thinned with odorless turpentine for the initial drawing. Charcoal and pastels seem to grab onto the painted surface. More very thinned color can then layered to blend and create a surface to add more charcoal/pastel layers and on and on. I did this in about two hours, but I could have stayed at the studio all day. Unfortunately another class was waiting to start. It's quite messy! A far cry from ink and watercolor in a small sketchbook.

1 comment:

Shirley said...

This is wonderful - does it resemble you? The process certainly seems complex and messy, but the result seems worth it!