Saturday, June 6, 2009

Self Portraits Like Hybrid Flowers

Here's something to ponder. How many different ways would you consider painting a self portrait? What kind of freedom would you allow yourself and what is your statement on 'you'? You can see that my approach has been all over the place and this has been a good practice over the years, yet... Self portraits have always been most uncomfortable for me. Unless they are in some way self narrative or abstracted, it is hard for me to do them. This last week I gave myself permission to do a representational one and, am not too disturbed by the likeness. This painting is 8" x "10," oil on canvas. The others are: Doglady self portrait (37" x 48," oil on canvas), In Your Face (15 1/2" x 20," monotype), and Churchlady (38" x 48," oil on canvas).
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17 comments:

  1. ManonJune 9, 2009 at 5:17 AM

    Hi Melinda,
    Thanks for stopping by my blog! Your work is terrific! I will definitely be back!

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  2. KatherineJune 9, 2009 at 9:49 AM

    I would be so peased with myself if I painted Dog Lady. Fantastic!

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  3. MelindaJune 9, 2009 at 10:47 AM

    Hi Manon,
    It was great visiting your blog. I love your work.

    Thank you for visiting. I do hope you'll come by again!

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  4. MelindaJune 9, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    Hi Katherine,
    You know, I was pretty pleased with myself (shyly grinning) when I completed this one. It was a lot of fun.

    Thank you so much for visiting!

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  5. lauraJune 9, 2009 at 2:04 PM

    Wow! I really admire your creativeness in your self-portraits--they're fascinating! And your most recent one is great too--very nicely painted; the light and colors are wonderful.
    It is a weird exercise; I'd like to more of them too!

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  6. MelindaJune 9, 2009 at 4:40 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. MelindaJune 9, 2009 at 5:25 PM

    It is a good exercise, Laura. Well worth doing--even if a bit uncomfortable.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Linny D. VineJune 10, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    They're all great, Melinda!!! I like that you kept the representative piece loose...even more difficult when one it doing a self portrait in a representational style. (I have a running joke with an artist friend that an artist must have painted pears, crows, cows and a self portrait to be considered a 'real artist.)

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  9. MelindaJune 10, 2009 at 4:28 PM

    Thanks, Linny! I guess I better go buy some pears and set up my paints outside to catch the crows! I have painted cows in Wales, but that was a very, very long time ago!

    I'm on my way, yes?

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  10. Barbara MuirJune 11, 2009 at 9:13 PM

    Hi Melinda,

    I don't think I commented on these and I must be crazy! I especially love the one that looks like you, but they are all wonderful. You are such a talented artist.

    xoxoxoBarbara

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  11. MelindaJune 12, 2009 at 9:18 AM

    Thank you, Barbara! You're not crazy. You're a fabulously busy artist.

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  12. AnonymousJune 14, 2009 at 12:30 PM

    Love the whimsy in your self portraits. Very imaginative and expressive. Every one so different.
    Jean

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  13. MelindaJune 14, 2009 at 6:13 PM

    Thank you, Jean! I like that word, "whimsy." It would be fun to do more of these kinds of portraits. Well, it would be fun to have more whimsy everywhere, yes?

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  14. loriann signoriJune 15, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    I love your collection of self portraits Melinda. Each one is definitely unique. I wonder how you would describe your stage of life in relation to the different self portraits....hmmm? I especially like the way you created the hair this time.

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  15. MelindaJune 15, 2009 at 5:08 PM

    Thank you, Loriann! Your comments are always so thoughtful. Yes, each self portrait is a short narrative on a stage in my life. The youngest one is a self portrait in monotype that I did from a photo. It was a documentation of the day before I had my first child. The one next to it, doglady, is a narrative of my feelings of suffering, surviving and an interest in the positive characteristics of dogs. The third one is about feeling disconnected and confused by modern social topics, i. e., religion, feminism and personal freedom. The last one, most current, is a more real self portrait with lots of color, because I feel my head is full of art and color!

    I agree with you--I had lots of fun painting the hair, adding color, scratching away layers and adding more.

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  16. Jeffrey J. Boron June 17, 2009 at 9:14 PM

    I like the bottom one best Melinda =;-))

    Jeffrey

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  17. MelindaJune 18, 2009 at 5:13 PM

    Thanks, Jeffrey! I appreciate your stopping by. Your work is wonderful.

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