Self in Blue from Various Perspectives

I thought it would be fun to do a little behind the scenes of one of my favorite works. I like this painting a lot because I can use it as a profile picture when I’m not in the mood to have a regular photo up. I painted this painting very spontaneously with no reference or real plan. It’s not perfect but I like it. I had painted the background as it’s own piece but didn’t find it super interesting so I painted a face over the original abstract. I sketched it freehand, you can see pencil lines as I didn’t stick to the sketch while painting. I wasn’t thinking about myself or anyone in particular when I created the image or if it even looks like me though I claimed it as a self portrait later. At the time I was painting abstracts in a sketchbook then taking them out in the sun while they were still wet and photographing each piece from all different angles. I’d pick my favorite spot or detail and share the close up with my friends online, usually with a little spontaneous poem that I’d write after choosing the final image. When I was invited to exhibit my work digitally at @m.a.d.s.artgallery I needed high resolution photos that could be shared on a big screen, the original painting was a photographed like most of my others with the old iPhone so I had to get out the painting 3 years later and photograph it again with a real camera. I personally prefer taking pictures with my phone because I can quickly crop and upload to share without a lot of hassle. The real camera means so many extra steps before I can share that I seldom post the pictures I take but I’m getting better about that. The final pics are the photos I took 3years later for the exhibit the painting is dry so it’s not quite the same effect. I included some never before shared images from the original 2015 iPhone shoot in different lighting from other angles. I call this piece both “Self in Blue” and “Charity of Thought” which was the title of a poem one of my best friends Sandy wrote for me when I was 15 or 16. I hope you all enjoy this little peak behind the scenes I’m thinking of sharing a few more of these.