LifeBook week03: Portraits with Misty Mawn

This week on LifeBook we had a portrait painting lesson by Misty Mawn titled 'The Person I Know Best'. It was supposed to be a self-portrait of sorts, without the constraints of having to make it look like ourselves. I didn't use a reference photo of any kind - I just randomly drew a sketch and let it evolve to what it wanted to be. It hasn't got the painterly look that I was originally going for, which is still something that escapes me, but I think it has the "mixed-media" look. I just did what I felt comfortable with. Not very brave, I know, but that's what felt right at the time. I just went with the flow. I'm sure there will come a time when I want to be more experimental, brave, etc - but this wasn't the time. I think I still just want to create "pretty" at this point and I'm just happy that I finally got the symmetry right (sort of).

I started out with this sketch:

and then kept painting until I ended up with this:

OK, that's enough photos now, thank you - we get the idea! I realize my portraits look a bit "samey" but perhaps that's just my emerging style. Quite similar to what I was already doing two years ago, but perhaps a bit more refined. Anyway, it is what it is, and I quite enjoyed working on it. Tam always tells us, we have to paint what makes our heart sing - and at the moment, this is it.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to watch Trump's inauguration. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next four years. Let's be cautiously optimistic - we've got no other choice!