Self Portrait

I had never contemplated doing a self portrait but this exercise was illuminating and showed me the importance of really looking and studying the face, proportions, tone and expression. I got so into this exercise that I tried this out a few times on friends and family and found that I was getting a likeness.  It was exciting and very satisfying and I would very much like to develop this further and try painting portraits.

I started with a few quick 10 to 15 mins sketches and I was surprised how much I could do in a short period of time.  I then started to draw just my head and tried to get the shape  and then tried my neck in various positions and the hardest position was looking up and getting the chin right.

It was quite a lesson in looking very closely for as long as you wanted and you didn't have to take into account a models feelings or patience!

I did two self protraits the first being in pencil and I think that it is a rather sterile looking picture not portraying very much about me.  It looks rather photographic and although there is a likeness but it doesn't feel like me.

The second portrait I did was much more relaxed and somehow I think I have captured expression and people who have looked at it say it is by far the picture that captures me as a person.  I am not usually happy about what I do but I cannot explain how weird I feel looking at this picture as technically there is  a few things not right but somehow I am there.  I used charcoal pencil and white chalk and I think that I could have blended a bit better.

Following this I decided to do some more portraits as I haven't tried these in the past and really enjoyed doing them and found that I could indeed get a likeness quite quickly.

I then wanted to practice features particularly ears, so I drew my own ear and copied the other features from books.  The portrait was done of a friend again very quickly

I also did a portrait of Robin Gibb that was in a Sunday magazine and really enjoyed this and I think he is recognizable.  I concentrated very much on tone and I was pleased the way his hands turned out although not perfect.

The last exercise in this section was a self portrait from memory and I waited two weeks after I had done the other two portaits and again was amazed at the likeness.

 I will certainly continue to explore portraits and I recently went to the Portrait Gallery to see the Lucien Freud exhibition and thoroughly enjoyed his work.  His portraits tell stories and are not photographic in style, he portrays mood and emotion and his wide eyed portrait of Kitty is almost disturbing. His style doesn't flatter his sitter and there was much criticism of his portrait of the Queen which is probably my least favourite of his work.