My first self-portrait.

This was done alla prima on a plywood board. It's supposed to look like me, but... it was my first attempt at a self-portrait, so I'm not too bummed it doesn't look much like me. At least I hope it doesn't...


Usually I start by drawing the contours of a character with black, then fill it with some nice colour, then add white to create light, to try and create some form for the picture. Finally, I add more black to sharpen the lines and to finish the shadows more carefully. If I'm feeling calm and patient, I can go on for hours, trying to get the shadows and the form just right, especially if I'm painting a portrait. If the curve of a cheek isn't exactly as it should be, the picture just won't do justice to the real person...

Since I painted on plywood, it was actually very easy to use the alla prima technique. The wood just soaks up all the paint very quickly, especially if you only add small amounts at a time, so it was easy to finish it in a few hours without a messy result. I wish I had more plywood boards, it keeps the paint perfectly moist yet not too wet. It's so easy to keep perfecting the contours and blending the shadows as subtly as possible. A whole another issue is whether the paint will peel off over time, since the oil has been absorbed into the wood...

It just occurred to me that the Simpsons have yellow skin colour, as well. A reference to the Simpsons was not what I was going after.