FIN 120 Unit 2

GREY SCALE PORTRAIT

The thought of painting a grey scale portrait in a realism style almost made me want to quit before I even started. This was all way out of my comfort zone. I learned it is a process. If you can break it down into steps, eventually you will end up with a final product.

I sketched this in my sketchbook using a photo I took that night. I remember feeling so defeated with my hands in my hair, and my head supported in my palm. My hair hanging down over the side of my face. We were suppose to draw from a mirror, but my mind just could not. I tried. I just could not. I was feeling so frustrated.

I enjoyed doing these thumbnail sketches on different coloured backgrounds. I have only ever painted on white before. I like how each colour reacts to the underneath colour.

The tools I used to paint these sketches were clockwise from top left: Finger, Basting brush, Feather, Cotton swab (Q tip).

I had to work from a picture of myself. Drawing from a mirror and real life was proving to be too difficult for my brain at the time. I used a picture of myself for reference. I was very anxious about this whole process as I have never worked in Realism before. I am way out of my comfort zone. I used a grid pattern in some areas while drawing. I have never drawn/painted something this large before!

I don’t know if using unusual objects made the whole process harder or easier. In the end, due to the nature of the objects I was using, I released some of my desire to have things perfect. I realized I couldn’t get it perfect even if I was using the most amazing expensive brush in the world. So why was I expecting perfection from a cotton swab?

I blocked in the black and a lighter grey to start with a piece of rag. It was scary for me to start adding in the different tones. My face was looking very dark. After I had the hair painted in, things balance out a bit.

I painted my hair in with the turkey basting brush. It was a bit uncooperative but provided a neat streaky texture. The dark background at the top needed some sort of detail. I added some radiating stripes from my head. (My own personal halo.). I then went in and fixed my hairline. My forehead just isn’t that high. My arm and hand needed more work. I added layers to give it a more rounded form. I used the feather and added some pure white highlights to my tattoos. A Self Portrait scroll was painted under my face. The space needed to be balanced with something. Painting in hair just wasn’t giving me the look I wanted.

Feeling like this painting could go on for years. fixing a few more areas (or is it obsessing?) Time is telling me that I have no more time for this project so get it up on the wall and take a picture!