SELF PORTRAIT IN 7 STEPS

I have been fighting with my printer all day trying to get some images printed to start a new painting. I was lectured by my son that I don't have enough memory left on my laptop because of all the photos. so I have been transferring many of them onto an auxiliary hard drive trying to get 10% of the memory freed up. I can't believe how many photos that is!! In the meantime I thought I would try the printer again but it is printing only half the photo. What's up with that???????

While I was messing with the two hard drives and all the photos, I came across one of my self portraits done with a random watercolor wash background, then a brush pen drawing and pastel on top. I did this painting looking in a mirror without a photo reference. It is distorted but I really had fun doing it and I like it a lot. Most people don't like it because they think it is too unflattering. I don't really care about flattering myself in my work. It is so freeing not to take yourself so seriously.

I sometimes take the time to stop and photograph along the way. Here are the steps to the finished painting. I started with wet into wet on watercolor cold press paper. When dry I used a Japanese brush pen which holds an ink cartridge. I love drawing with this tool. Unfortunately I don't know the manufacturer but it is quality hair in the brush and was around $60.00 Then I started applying hard pastel and finally some soft pastel in the end.

Quote for the day: "PASSION: There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart. Pursue these" Michael Nolan

A BIG THANK YOU TO NAVA WHO CREATED THE HTML FOR THE PHOTOS SO I COULD POST THEM! I have spent 3 days trying to upload the images to no avail. It pays to have great friends who share their genius with you.