Self-portrait study 2

Burnt sienna toned ground, then a palette of burnt sienna, lead white, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, and burnt umber. I really liked this palette (though it was strange to have burnt sienna as one's only "red"), and only barely began to discover all the different subtle combinations that can be created. Very happy with how this turned out. This was about 2 hours, alla prima with a mirror.

I have to figure out a better setup, though... I can't seem to manage a way, yet, to have the spotlight (and it's awfully hot under that thing; artists' models, I empathize!) on my face without it being either in my eyes or too bright on my canvas, or both.

Also, I'm a bit bummed that alla prima self-portraits are pretty much limited to the straight-on view. Unless I'm majorly misunderstanding something or there are some tricks using multiple mirrors, there's no way to paint one's own profile (for example) alla prima...no?

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In India. Traditional wooden block-print stamps for textiles.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Self-portrait study

I'm planning on experimenting with the different suggested palettes in Suzanne Brooker's Portrait Painting Atelier (book discussed in this post of mine). This is the first one: viridian toned, then a limited palette of viridian, alizarin, raw umber, and lead white. (Raw umber oil paint is very bizarre to me: it feels like painting with lumps of wet dirt...which I guess it is, actually.) It took until it was about halfway done for me to decide not to scrape it, and to keep going; at first, it seemed the palette was going to be impossible...then all of a sudden it began resolving and I'm pleased with it. The likeness is fairly close, though you can see I didn't sketch it out much first. This was about an hour and a half, alla prima with a mirror.

I may have the strangest cat in the world. (I once saw a bumper sticker that said My cat is weirder than yours.) I think he looks like a snake here (no ears).

Another great "found abstract": a wall in Jaipur.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

The New Narcissism

I just received my latest issue of Artist's Magazine in the mail today, and I misread the cover blurb as The New Narcissism.  (It's actually The New Classicism--is that even a word?) As such, I feel obliged to put a self-portrait here. This was a drawing done during art school several months ago. (And which I entered into the magazine's self-portrait contest...and got nothin'.)

The pose may look familiar; most people have seen the striking National Geographic photo of the Afghan girl. I looked at the famous photo to see how the head scarf was draped, then draped myself with one, and set up in front of a mirror to draw myself from life, in 2 sessions of 2.5 hours each.  

I remember it took a really long time to figure out how to position myself so that I could be in that position in the mirror and still have my drawing board in front of me (without actually hitting the mirror) and my drawing tools easily enough to hand that I wouldn't disrupt the head scarf too much while reaching down to sharpen charcoal, etc.

$725.00 - Self-portrait (Framed)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com