Saturday, February 22, 2020

Self Portrait (Painting #500, 13th Birthday as a Painter)




Hi.
I'm Helen.
I love purple and green. 
I love old comfortable tee shirts and jeans.
I love wearing silver swirly earrings.
I have brown eyes that have been turning green over the years.
I have brown hair that has been turning gray over the years.
I'm an artist. 

My art mentor and friend,Cheri, said that every artist should do a self portrait at some point.  I tried to argue that I already had... sort of.

This is me...
...back when I still painted my hair brown with some gray mixed in.
The swirly silver earrings are there.
There's a big pink smile, and I'm wearing green. 
It's a self portrait.
This is me...
 I'm a VW Beetle kind of girl...
I drove this red one for 10 years.. Now my VW is deep jade green.
It looks like I'm wearing purple in this one.
It's a self portrait.
This is me...
 Dear, precious Sweet Blossom the Possum...
She was the main character of hundreds of bedtime stories for my kids.
The saga of her life, stories, family, and friends was pretty much a

 retelling of my own, only in her forest home. She was me.
It's a self portrait.

None of these, however, was what Cheri had in mind when I went for a lesson in her Oklahoma studio.  
I painted my first painting with Cheri on February 22, 2007.
Cheri and I painted together again to celebrate
my 10th year as a painter on February 22, 2017



It was fitting that I'd begin my 500th painting with her guidance... and she was determined it was time I did a real self portrait.


















Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas
[Not For Sale]

6 comments:

  1. What a great pictures!! Love the pictures showing the steps you took to complete the painting! Were you looking in a mirror or working from a photograph?

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    1. Thank you! I always love the steps in the process, even the messy ones! Yes, I used a mirror some, but I mostly used a photograph.

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  2. Love this, I really do. What fun to see the progress, both on your self portrait, but also your progression of talent through the years. Great post!

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    1. Thanks! Process and Progress... that's what it's all about!

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  3. I also really enjoyed seeing the series showing the steps of your painting's progress. An excellent painting to celebrate #500...such an accomplishment! I used to own a red bug too! I had to sell it when we moved to Nova Scotia...the country roads were too terrible for such a low riding vehicle!

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    1. I love the process... from the planning to the blocking in colors to the refining the details.

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