
Stroke Of Genius: Portrait Of The Artist At 45
Stroke Of Genius: Portrait Of The Artist At 45
36 x 48
2005 / #8
Every five years I paint a self-portrait, or try to anyway. It is good practice for an artist to depict them self because it forces us to use observational skills on a different level. How I see myself is not how others do, evident by my many failures over the years to render my own face. I cannot see my own face in a mirror or my own eyes. I see through them instead. The planes and angles that make up our features are hard for me to capture. For this reason, I do not paint portraits, only likenesses. I use the self-portrait paintings to function as diaries of the previous span of years. Events, people, situations and so forth all make up the parts of the painting. Some things are understood only by me and will remain private and deeply personal. Other things are obvious and carry over. For example, the hammer and legos of my “AT 40” painting appear here as well. The sketchbook at my feet contains a drawing of the “AT 40” image like it appears in my real book. Overflowing water….yep, the washer blew a hose. The army hat and merit badge image are from my summer at the National Jamboree. One son played chess, the other marched in the band. The flamingo represents a running gag between friends. The toilet paper and the number on the bottom of it express my feelings about a family situation. My cat died between the two paintings and I adopted 2 more. I could go on and on, but I will leave you to explore my life on your own.
My stance in this picture is where the ‘stroke of genius’ idea comes into play. Look closely at the canvas and you will find a smiley face painted over. There is nothing on the canvas in “AT 40”. Blondes get the stereotype of being dumb, however, since I work with stereotypes, I would not be true to my statement if I did not make myself look somewhat perplexed by my own work. I am wearing my paint covered scrubs and white T-shirt, the official studio uniform for me. When I do a career day presentation and am asked to show up in my uniform, I have to decline. What if I got hit by a car and showed up in the ER dressed like that! How embarrassing. One more thing to note, the wooden man on the shelf is posed as I am in the previous portrait, a little alter ego kind of thing going on. The heating pad of previous days is now folded and put away as my injury is under control now. And finally, my signature is done in thread this time just for fun.
36 x 48
2005 / #8
Every five years I paint a self-portrait, or try to anyway. It is good practice for an artist to depict them self because it forces us to use observational skills on a different level. How I see myself is not how others do, evident by my many failures over the years to render my own face. I cannot see my own face in a mirror or my own eyes. I see through them instead. The planes and angles that make up our features are hard for me to capture. For this reason, I do not paint portraits, only likenesses. I use the self-portrait paintings to function as diaries of the previous span of years. Events, people, situations and so forth all make up the parts of the painting. Some things are understood only by me and will remain private and deeply personal. Other things are obvious and carry over. For example, the hammer and legos of my “AT 40” painting appear here as well. The sketchbook at my feet contains a drawing of the “AT 40” image like it appears in my real book. Overflowing water….yep, the washer blew a hose. The army hat and merit badge image are from my summer at the National Jamboree. One son played chess, the other marched in the band. The flamingo represents a running gag between friends. The toilet paper and the number on the bottom of it express my feelings about a family situation. My cat died between the two paintings and I adopted 2 more. I could go on and on, but I will leave you to explore my life on your own.
My stance in this picture is where the ‘stroke of genius’ idea comes into play. Look closely at the canvas and you will find a smiley face painted over. There is nothing on the canvas in “AT 40”. Blondes get the stereotype of being dumb, however, since I work with stereotypes, I would not be true to my statement if I did not make myself look somewhat perplexed by my own work. I am wearing my paint covered scrubs and white T-shirt, the official studio uniform for me. When I do a career day presentation and am asked to show up in my uniform, I have to decline. What if I got hit by a car and showed up in the ER dressed like that! How embarrassing. One more thing to note, the wooden man on the shelf is posed as I am in the previous portrait, a little alter ego kind of thing going on. The heating pad of previous days is now folded and put away as my injury is under control now. And finally, my signature is done in thread this time just for fun.