Freelance Art
Self Portrait
date: 2003
I had mentioned how I wanted to try painting—my art teacher suggested I do another self-portrait, except instead of in pencil, painted. I had imagined it would be immensely more difficult than it actually was, but I am in no way saying that I thought it was easy. The ability to mix a color and at a later time recreate it was difficult, and sometimes didn’t work too well for me. Before starting I sat down and browsed through piles of self-portraits done by artists. The ones that caught my attention were those where the artist had his or herself in a particular atmosphere, and included the surroundings. I immediately began pondering how I might incorporate my woodworking background. I feel I did this successfully. This painting was done with acrylic paint, and has pleased me very much. I spent five days a week for four weeks working on this painting, an hour or two a day. This is acrylic on canvass, 14” x 22.”
Soldad Mt., San Diego, California
date: 2004
This is a view from the top of Soledad Mountain in San Diego, California, at the top of which is a large WW II memorial with a towering cross. Again, this is also acrylic on canvass and is 17" x 33". Being a landscape painting I found it much more difficult than the self portrait. However, I am happy with how the texture of the sky turned out.
