I picked up the self portrait I had started a couple of weeks ago. I had been picking at it here and there, adding a few more layers and it was at a point that I wasn't really happy with it. The texture was too grainy, the colour not where I wanted it to be. So I decided I would play around with it a bit more, using the 'its only paper' concept that allows me to be free.
I brushed paint thinners on over the coloured pencil, timidly at first to see how what happened, then more heavy handed and was quite interested to see how the thinners change the colour and brings out the reds that I had added as a previous layer. It turns it into a different piece entirely, one that I'm not too unhappy with.
Yes there are muddy sections, but there are also passages of colour that I like too. The surface is too slick to add something like pastel over it, but it may take a little more pencil or perhaps some acrylic. Its on a sheet of Rives paper I believe, I can't remember, but it seems to stand up to the moisture of the thinners well, but may be just too textured for decent coloured pencil application.
The difference between the two is pronounced, almost a Jekyll and Hyde. Which is the real me...?
3 comments:
Reconsider being not really happy with it: it has character and it has an interesting set-up: 1/3 of your face is hidden, while another 1/3 is open space. That is not usual for a portrait and therefore interesting.
Keep going!
Paula
I'm not overly unhappy with it, but passages concern me. The composition I like. Traditional portraits can be a bit boring.
And I will keep on with it Paula. For better or worse! :)
the top one seems to be more alive to me, hard to explain why tho. both versions are nice. its interesting to see how the thinners change the colorus
Post a Comment