Self Portrait
On my recent trip to California, I was able to make it to the monthly meeting of the Saddleback Art League. It was great to see old friends and I was fascinated by the demo given by artist Pamme Turner. She had done a sabbatical in Greece to study icon painting using traditional egg tempera and byzantine color pigments. She explained that in the classical sense, an icon (or eikon, in Greek) simply means “image” but in the art historical sense it is generally known as a specialized or “holy” image. It was her actual painting in the classical icon process that I found so interesting. It is the act of painting from dark, then layering into light with the final layers being the lightest paint colors, then adding gold leaf. In addition to using egg tempera,
she was using gouache. I had been wanting to do a self portrait but I wasn’t sure in what style
or medium I wanted to work. After seeing Pamme’s demo, I had to give this a try.
I did this painting on an 8x10 piece of gessoed masonite, using gouache. (I’ll try making egg
tempera another time!) I started with one side of my face a very dark red and the other side
a dark blue. My hair was a deep turquoise. Using small brush strokes, I layered color on color, going lighter each time. I especially liked using the gold leaf in the back ground. I love the effect I got by layering the gold on top of a bright red.
I did this painting without looking in a mirror. I wanted it to be the ”memory” of what I see, not so much how I actually look.( I spent too much time staring at myself when I was painting those “60 Faces”!) It was an interesting challenge, but I enjoyed the process. As always, I can’t resist trying something new!!
You can learn more about Pamme Turner at; www.pammeturner.com
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Friday, April 3, 2009
