The reason for self-portraits? The model is always available and there’s no modeling fee.

I was trying out a “pour” – pouring paint on to the surface and then manipulating it (by tilting or other ways). I had so much paint on this little 6×6 canvas that I decided to press another canvas on top, then lift. A happy accident!

Online courses are an amazing resource. I’ve watched little snippets to answer a question I had, or dipped into a series called “The Mind of Watercolor” (free on youtube), purchased courses from Will Kemp Art School (he’s adorable), and currently am doing a purchased course on brushstrokes. From Udemy. The teacher has a free youtube video series (3 parts) on brush strokes through history. Very complete, it seemed. Jill Poyerd is the instructor.

Tonight I watched the course videos on gradients (gradual transitions from light to dark) then played around with these guys, using white and yellow oxide oil paint.

Frank Auerbach’s work ethic included painting the same subject over and over, scraping off all the paint after a session and beginning again. This is a continuation of imitating his loose style and scraping down afterwards.

I made a mistake I hadn’t made before! And hopefully won’t do it again – unless I want to do it intentionally.

The assignment today in class: paint like Frank Auerbach (b.1931). In reading about him, I saw that Frank Auerbach “inherited” his paint studio from Leon Kossoff. Cool.

Frank Auerbach:

and my effort, below. The mistake? I was working from a photo and the photo was flat on my work table – so the head ended up wider/distorted!

I tried a little 7×10 watercolor and quickly judged it, got critical, got discouraged and quit trying. Now, a couple of days later, I can see how unhelpful this is. I just don’t have the skills or experience yet. So find more experience and skills. Drawing little sketches help me come back to work. Small successes AND/OR less attached to an idea of how it has to be.

Apparently, Cézanne thought it was a good idea to build paintings on color, and rely far less on lights and darks.  Cézanne built forms of contrasting colors rather than relying on shading. These onions below, depend on lights and darks to give their form.

Cézanne did it with color.

Now it’s my challenge to do it. It’s hard! Do any of these look three-dimensional?