Tuesday, July 03, 2012

on painting my self portrait without trying

I have been teaching painting for a long time now.  I often start with a master painting to teach the methods of measuring, drawing etc.  What I have found over the years is that I can make a pretty good guess at who produced the painting by how much the painting looks like the student.  I have been painting portraits for years.  I am a Caucasian female.  I once painted from life, an oriental girl and then just another Caucasian female.  On both portraits, I was asked, " Is this a self portrait?" 

 I guess we can't help ourselves.  We see that image in the mirror every day and it just appears on our canvases!  

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