How do I lose control enough to simply paint an abstract version of myself? Picasso inspires me to paint with my paintbrush leading. To do this I tell myself, “Loosen your hand and relax”. Now, simply paint your face. The trick is to balance realism and abstraction. What areas of my face are expressive and unique? How do I do this with a few pen strokes?
Since I don’t have an obvious Frida Kahlo uni-brow or a monkey on my shoulder I decided to try and feature my hair and mouth. I ask a lot of questions (always have since I could barely mutter a word). This characteristic is highlighted by adding an inquisitive brow and the word, “Why”. Further elaboration was done with a small sized brush and phthalo blue paint. Keeping my hand loose I tried to imagine what it would feel like to add a stroke of blue here or there. Then I just freely made the stroke of phthalo. I let my intuition lead.
For “Owl Girl” I used a Teesha Moore style prompt. Two eyes were cut from magazines and glued to a basic profile of myself. Then I used a tutorial prompt from Milliande to paint the wings. My concentration is much more focused In this piece. As all of the detail of the mask built up I seemed to start painting with a loose hand again. I just completed a small journal featuring Proverbs. There is much wisdom in Proverbs. Could that be why I can now portray myself as a semblance of an owl?
