“But Still I Persist,” stage 2

Okay, got it this far tonight, it’s after midnight and I need to go to bed now…

Boy howdy, this self-portrait has been difficult. Not sure how to quantify or classify that statement, but I think it’s because I’m going for bold colors (the red background is right out of the tube) and I’m going for a VERY flat texture (as opposed to my typical impasto), and because this one has a lot of details.

I still need to do a bit on this one and it’ll probably take all of tomorrow night’s painting time:

• outline with black lines (my colorful black, which is ultramarine and burnt sienna)
• put in some detail on the star – I think I’m going to trace along the inside with red
• put in the curlyque
• lettering, lettering, lettering. This will take most of the time. And lettering in oil over wet oil isn’t exactly easy. Maybe it’ll be tacky enough tomorrow that I’ll not have any issues

Self-portraits are curious things. My wife asked me why I don’t just be honest and stamp “I am awesome” across the top, as if the self-portrait is an homage to myself. I told her, jokingly, that she doesn’t understand my art. She replied, seriously, that I’m right, she doesn’t.

But I’m okay with that. Because my art is for me. I love to share it but, even if it doesn’t sell (and right now, it doesn’t, because I’ve just started), I’ll keep doing it. Always have, always will.