Self portraits

I decided to try a self portraits using the same way of painting that I used to paint the jam jars. One layer of paint next to another, hardly any drawing but trying to get the relationship of colours to work better.

 The first one looks a little more like me. Rather solemn and a bit grim but that is perhaps what I appear to be when concentrating.
To me it is a better likeness but friends have said not.

The second is not finished yet but, Although the resemblance is not there, I feel it is going to be a better painting. A lot has to change, my face is not long enough, not enough shape and a few unresolved bit such as the scarf and my mouth.

I need to do several of these to experiment with composition and colour.

This has been tweaked more to get the definition of the face better in balance with the rest. At least it is not as grim as the first one.. Still more to do!

The Jam Jars of Leith

The latest project at Leith School of Art was to concentrate for three weeks on one painting and I chose to focus on the jam jars connected with clutter.

Previously I had done a small painting of the jars on the windowsill at the same time a large sketch of them done with charcoal, white paint and then drawn with a brush.

 Matt asked me to do both at once, going from painting, small scale and then to large scale, drawing.
I was concerned about the composition but told not to worry, just work on how to put the paint on.
The large drawing was a challenge as it was suggested that I "hurl everything at it" but got stuck when trying to use ink and a dodgy piece of bamboo. Images of Jiacometti where shown, the idea of drawing with a brush, using paint like a rubber to make the lines thin and so I just used whatever was on the palette and tried to draw the jars. I don't feel it is successful at all and the smaller painted sketch is very drab, and uninteresting.

The larger painting done over the last two weeks is not finished and has changed from the beginning. Partly because the same jam jars were not available and partly because I realised that the painting was split down the middle by the arrangement of jars. This meant working out how to divert the eye from the centre of the painting and so I emphasised the red paper on the jar to the  left.
I am not happy with the painting so far as it is has little life about it and the colours are very drab.


With another week to go in order to finish it, I am hoping to bring it to life, give it some sparkle and resolve the composition errors.

After much dithering I decided to crop a couple of pieces which I feel works a little better.

This is a small pastel sketch done at home. I used the pastels like paint, mixing, rubbing out and general trying to create a more lifelike view of my own jam jars.