Everyone in my family has a "specialty", and when there is need for that specialty, that person is expected to do the job. For instance, my husband cooks the meat, I am not to be trusted. I cook the side dishes and homemade breads. I am also the painter of walls and ceilings and cabinets. Because I am persnickety and I won't leave splotches everywhere or crooked lines. No, definitely no crooked lines. I have a half inch flat watercolor brush that I do touch ups with! Well, recently someone stepped through the attic floor/bathroom ceiling, and after it was repaired I was sent in to do the painting. I hate painting ceilings!! Seriously! Neck and shoulders...it just isn't good! Anyway, as I grumbled while applying a second coat, I heard a reciprocating saw in the next room. I came around the corner just in time to see the saw blade hit the drain pipe to the bathtub upstairs and see the water come gushing down. It was not my job to clean up that mess (TG!), so I got off easy there; but, guess what I'll be doing again in the next couple of days? Yep...another ceiling. Bummer!This is me, in my painting get-up: a cheapo baseball cap to protect the hair, and an old reject t-shirt of my husband's with paint all over it. Now, this is not an attractive look for me in the least, but I'm just going to go ahead and let you know that I didn't do myself any favors here! It is micron pen (sepia) and watercolor on exacompta sketchbook.
I, for one, LOVE IT!! It's got character. Uh- have fun repainting the ceiling? :-)))
ReplyDeleteReal portraits need not, and probably should not, be flattering. I agree with PAMO re "character". There is character in this one - it is very well done. And all of them, though different, look like you. Cool background too. Your sepia pen never looks sepia online (I don't get that). I am also the designated painter for that persnickety reason. One of my masterpieces is my son's room with galaxies and planets and a rocket ship on the wall. Re that ceiling, keep your chin up! :)
ReplyDeleteGary says that I start on home projects that he ends up finishing. Right now he's painting our kitchen cabinet doors. It always works LOL! Sorry about your ceiling.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying seeing your self portraits. They are all wonderful!
You look like you mean business, you go girl!!!
ReplyDeleteI like this portrait, again a great angle and the colours are working well with the mood of the picture. May the force be with you when you tackle the next ceiling... I'm also painting this weekend, walls, walls and more walls... ugh!!!
Great portrait. MFK Fisher said we have to get beyond vanity--I think you did that.
ReplyDeleteIn my house, all jobs (specialty & otherwise) seem to be mine so I'm always dressed down for work. We now hire painters but I recently realized that it's hard to keep my mouth closed when I'm working on something overhead--replacing smoke detectors, bulbs, etc. I'm curious about whether others do this; let me know.
I hope you aches have gone away Raena, I know what you mean by painting the ceiling, I don't like painting anywhere in the house...PERIOD ^^ I don't know. I just love doing it on papers and possibly canvas, I guess when I do paint the house, I take it too serious and it's really no fun anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnd specialty in the house subject...hehehehe, that draws me. My specialty is fix everything =) But of course when I am married, that extends to cooking, laundry, taking care of the cat, the designated driver. The only thing I probably don't do is cleaning, which my wife excels in.
Anyway, another great self-portrait!
you don't look too happy about that ceiling, R. I'm sure the family was wise enough to give you a wide berth while you holding a brush and wearing that cap. Great self-portrait.
ReplyDeleteI like it that you have painted what you see, the cap and t.shirt make it different. Good background colour too.
ReplyDeleteOh Raena, this is a beautiful painting! It is so light and fresh, definitely nothing overdone here and the specs are perfect this time ;) It doesn't matter that you've painted yourself in your old gear and I'll tell you why.
ReplyDeleteOne warm sunny evening when I was with a group of aspiring artists painting 'en plein air' we were doing a painting of some very old and dilapidated farmyard buildings. After a while, the farmer came out to look at our work. He looked at our paintings, then looked at the buildings, scratched his head and said "Well, you all made my run down old buildings look so beautiful with your brightly coloured paints, they look a lot more beautiful than they really are!",
Of course, with this tale, I was refering to your old clothes and definitly not your good self!
Well, I love it anyway! And I've got my painting getup, too...old t-shirt and painty leggings!
ReplyDeleteI wish I were that kind of painter...I make a HUGE mess! I don't know why... <:-(
I admire the fact that you find the time to do a self portrait when you are so busy with other things too! I think it's a great portrait!
ReplyDeleteHey, Raena! You look cute in your painting outfit! We hired a couple of young women to paint our ceilings. (One of their husbands was doing repair work on our house.) They sprayed it on. Hung plastic around the rooms they were painting. I told them that they must open a window as the fumes were really bad. They said they were used to it. I told them I knew about paint, so open a window. They didn't. After they finished the job, and charged me $500, one girl found out she was expecting. I worried about her because the fumes were really bad.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you can do some of those things yourself!
Absolutely LOVE this self-portrait!!
ReplyDeleteLove all your self portraits, Raena and the latest is just great. Nice to have a cute subject to work from.
ReplyDeleteJoan Gillman Smith
Love it! It's a great portrait Raena. :-)
ReplyDeleteSuperb portrait! Sorry about your aches though! Hang on there - just a couple more days..! I have never tried painting walls! We've never really stayed in a house which needed us to paint it! LOL But I am sure I would be hopeless in that!
ReplyDeleteHi Raena...not sure if its true...but I feel you love yourself very much and thats the reason why you want to create your self portrait...it is indeed a happy thing to love oneself...before a person can love another person...it is such a gr8 self realization...I love myself too...but have tried my self portrait once...but have never tried it again..good going...!!!
ReplyDeleteI love to see your self-portraits - as Dan said, you look different each time but always look like the same person! (Sorry you have to do a second ceiling - hope that will be the last for a while.)
ReplyDeletereally digging the self portraits and the different styles and techniques with each one.
ReplyDeleteWonderful portrait! I can't believe two crazy disasters with ceilings though! I have a cheapo hat I got at the paint store last time I painted a wall. I use it at my easel to block the light in my eyes from the overhead light fixture. It's much less attractive than yours. And I agree about painting ceilings! An awful job! When I was a 19-year old working girl living alone in NY city and needed to paint my ceiling I hung out on the stoop until a very tall, cute guy walked by. I managed to flirt well enough to finagle him into painting my ceiling for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat portrait ! I wish I could find info on how to do them... quick sketches I mean , but I am hopeless with proportions, not talking about any istant likeness! As for painting walls and ceilings, we've just bought a little flat in Brittany, so I think I'll have to swap my watercoour brushes for larger ones too next September !
ReplyDeleteGreat Raena!
ReplyDeleteI love the "brutal" self-portrait! I understand your mood though, what frustrations!
ReplyDeleteGreat self portrait, Raena.
ReplyDeleteOh I can see it all now... sorry about the cut pipe... I soaked the whole bathroom we are now working on with a tremendous blast of water yesterday ...couldn't find the turn off knob.. Ugh!! just missed soaking my camera, I know not how...
ReplyDeleteI love your lines and the boldness of this portrait.. did you also do your profile pic?
What a wonderful portrait Raena. Only 90 to go—can't wait to see what you come up with next...
ReplyDeleteNice work. Nice lines and washes.
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