Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Three self portraits

I decided to do a few self portraits using plexiglas as a canvas. I wanted to see what would be possible painting on one side of the plexiglas and then flipping it over to see what was painted. It is a little like water color, but it is possible to build up layers of paint in reverse. Because the wet paint does not soak in, the water dries over time leaving the pigment on the surface. It is a new method for me and feels interesting because I am building up to a final picture that I cannot see until I flip over the plexiglas. I tried to wait to view the finished side so that I would utilize my intuition more.

I decided to have a neutral look to my face with eyes closed because I had seen another artist create portraits with eyes closed. For me it makes the viewer consider more of the color, technique and the features of the face in the painting. I didn't want the viewer to look too closely at the painted eyes for information.

I chose to focus on my face because I feel that my art is attracting certain experiences to me. I have been observing for some time that I have experienced events based on my work. And in fact, I have been creating works based on experiences I would like to have. Like the law of attraction, what I place attention on, the universe provides. This, however, has to my knowledge never been explained in terms of spiritual paths or events even. And so there has been a bit of experimentation to each work that I create. In the end, I make what I feel will fulfill a need of mine, and with these works I felt that I needed to focus in on my body. I had been feeling kind of spacey and hoped to be able to feel more awareness of my body as a result of this work. To some extent I believe that it worked. For example, I noticed how much more I could smile.

All in all, I am happy with the technique and with the self portraits. I feel that there is a certain way that emotion is conveyed through the paint that is right on target.
All works are acrylic on plexiglas, 2007. Enjoy.







Detail of above