Annual Self Portrait 2024

I started with a pencil outline, using a grid as usual.  I dragged a candle gently over bits of my face to create a bit of texture.  I reserved some white highlights on the pupils/irises and in the tear ducts (this really does make a difference).  I also reserved a few white hairs in the eyebrows and spattered some stars over the background.  After the masking fluid had dried and before starting to paint, I rubbed off any masking fluid spatters on my face and torso.  Then I was all set to go.

I started with the darkest colours, in both the big torso and background shapes and in the darkest bits of the face.  This was mainly tundra violet but I dropped all the other colours into the background and mixed some sort of brown for the irises.  I then watered down my (contaminated) puddle of tundra violet to a lighter shade that I used to paint the clearest middle values, giving me the skeleton of a painting to play with.

So after that I just kept adding more colours to the face, wherever I felt they were needed.  I was working from a black and white photo, so was trying to replicate values and not looking for colours.  I did, though, add a layer of green and brown strokes in the forehead, pink in the cheeks and green and blue in the lower face, following James Gurney’s advice on facial colour bands.  I added loads of layers.  Watercolour is weird.  Landscapes are easy to overwork by adding too many layers but portraits keep improving for much longer when adding more layers.  I have no idea why.  Anyway, I kept going until I was happy with the diversity of blues, browns, greens and pinks in the face and with the range of values.

After standing back, I decided that the shape of the face wasn’t quite right as a result of me not painting up to some very faint pencil edges.  This was easy to rectify by putting on two more dark layers over the torso, each of then stealing a bit of territory that had been part of the face.  And that was me done.

I think this is OK, although maybe a slight step down from last year’s self portrait.  It’s definitely me in the painting but I have a vague feeling that the eyes are slightly too small.  Otherwise it’s OK though and this will replace last year’s selfie as my social media avatar in January.

Which still leaves the big question.  Will I be submitting watercolours or markers to Portrait Artist Of The Year?  It’s a tough decision.  I think the watercolour is the better painting but the markers might have more chance of being selected for the program.  I still have a month to think it over.