Been a while since I have posted due to various things going on, but the main focus at the moment is self portraits. The painting above is a triple portrait of myself that I was working on just before Christmas 2012. It is for a competition called SELF which I am entering. The painting is partly an acknowledgement to the triple portraits that Anthony Van Dyke produced of Charles I and Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th Century. I have always been fascinated with those paintings as they were Initially studies for eventual sculptures.
But for me I love the emphasis of different characterisations and emotions with just one face. I felt that one profile was not enough to convey that message. I have a fascination with the old masters and their play with light and dark, particularly with artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer. The difficulty I had was using the mirror for the portrait as the lighting was different in the limited space I had. For the profiles I had to use two mirrors so that I could see what I was doing!
What was interesting when showing friends this painting were the different opinions as to which face they preferred. That for me says alot on how people interact with each other in different scenarios, nothing is the same.
I will be doing one more painting for this competition as an alternative approach and I will post as soon as I have completed. Wish me luck!! x
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