It is fitting, I think, to follow a post on vanity with a self portrait.
This is no vanity picture, however.
Yet there is if not vanity then certainly luxury in introspection, and here, I’m looking at how I look when I’m looking at something I’m drawing — in this case, my body holding a mirror up with outstretched arms.
Morning hair, finger combed, a line on the right side of the face that did not come from a knife fight, as I sometimes joke about; rather, it’s a wrinkle from habitually sleeping on my right side and is prominent in the morning.
Oh yes. This is a mirror image. I have not bothered to digitally flip it. So the wrinkle is on the wrong side.
Then there’s my downcast mouth that has always inspired comments like, “What’s wrong?”
Nothing.
My mouth looks like that when it’s relaxed.
And those frown lines are from squinting due to myopia, not grumpiness.
But I’ve often heard that the way I stare when I’m drawing a portrait is disconcerting. I wanted to capture that. I think I got it.
It is interesting to look at the world in terms of how to recreate it.
Rex,
Seems like the New Year’s resolutions are coming along well.
Lifting oneself in a mirror, that is quite a work-out, now that I think about it.
Not bad!
The texture in this drawing is important in its overall impact.
you are adorable
Rex,
I really like this style that I haven’t seen from you before. Much more about shading and volume, but still strong sense of movement from your strokes. Are the eyes really so completely dark as they appear on my screen? It’s impressive that you have created the sense of the gaze so well even though I can’t see the eyes.
Good drawing!
Rex,
I’ve been looking at the composition and it is pretty strong. If I try to crop any part of it, the picture loses some of its strength. For example, the face alone is not as powerful as the whole. This suggests to me that you have chosen a concise design that does not admit of further reduction. Even the unfinished nature of the torso at the bottom seems important as an aspect of the pattern, a light area balancing the dark rectangles at the top.
The lighting is especially interesting as well — I didn’t think of this at first, but the face itself is in shadow. It is certainly a different Rex than the rex in the photo we saw in December.
It is certainly a different Rex than the rex in the photo we saw in December.
It is the Rex of the energy – bright solar plexus.
This post was different because first I did a drawing and then wrote about it. Like Art criticism, the text illustrates the art.
Thanks for the comments. I wasn’t able to get back sooner because here in the mid Sierras, we have a foot and a half of fresh powder. I was out with a buddy of mine who came up from Pasadena, and I just got back from a glorious run down a perfect back country mountain.
Which gives me segue into Karl’s comment about New Year’s resolutions. One of mine was to get “ripped.” Not there yet, but my target of 9 percent body fat looks like it will be exceeded by next week, and that was scheduled for April 3rd (my birthday). One of the ways one gets such things accomplished is by getting up at five to climb mountains before the dawn.
Now I have just enough time for this note before I go shovel snow off the deck where I keep my weights, and then it’s another workout. Some people dread such things. I glory in it. My favorite parts of the day are my art time and my workout times.
Birgit, thanks for the loving comments!
Angela, :x (Smiley for “kiss.”)
Steve, the eyes are just barely visible in the original, but look at people’s eyes in high contrast light. You usually can’t see them. This is an example of drawing the seen object rather than the felt object — an entirely different mode of thought and perception. The trick is “Look. Don’t think.”
This piece is pure impressionism.
And Karl again. I cropped this a touch to achieve exactly what you observed. Achieving the lighting was done by using different lights and drawing things in sections, actually. I wanted a backlit effect. Detailing the abs wasn’t necessary. When I got there, I went “Nah.” As Birgit noticed, there is a mounting fire coming up from the middle — the center of balance and the part of the body one must master to achieve athletic balance and control.
I’m getting a camera in the mail sometime this week. You’ll see that I wasn’t exaggerating or embellishing. :)
Rex,
Nice drawing.
Immediately I wondered how you drew while holding up the mirror. I’m assuming that you laid it down and drew and then picked it up again to capture this or that. But that must have been an interesting process.
When I think about self-portraits, it’s normally clear how the artist positioned herself as she drew/painted the portrait — you know, the Rembrandt palette on one arm or looking at the canvas from the side of his eyes.
That there is no obvious reference to the artist in this drawing and no way the viewer could even infer this was a self-portrait, it seems to be an oblique comment of some sort. But I’m not sure what.
June,
I held the mirror up and set it down just as you said, but first I sketched out the pose without even looking; that way, following with occasional focused studies, I could just concentrate on a detail at a time. I do this same thing with models. I show them a sketch of the pose I want them to do. Models just LOVE that. Always they comment, “I wish more artists knew how to do that.”
There is a particular Leonardo portrait in which his eyes look off to the right ever so slightly. Several authors I’ve read have expostulated at length how he must have arranged the mirrors.
Silly writers.
He just drew his eyes that way.
Somewhere in there is the oblique comment you detected. :)
And David? I missed your comment. Thanks!
Rex, this is really an incredible self-portrait. I love the intensity of your gaze, and you captured it so well.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with once you get your camera ;)
Rex,
Very impressionistic. Good portrait. Would like to see how it would turn out in full color with oils…
You have captured the lines from ‘squinting’ well..
The eyes seem to be looking through me and beyond..