Self Portrait

After doing a dozen landscapes it was a treat to get back to my comfort zone, the figure. No model at hand, I used a mirror instead.

In the early stages of a painting I decide what I’m going to try to accomplish, besides something pretty to look at. For this portrait I set about exploring warm and cool colors. Again I limited my palette and even though it looks like a lot of colors there are only five; ultramarine blue, cadmium red medium, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow light and white.

Although it looks like I used black, the darks are a mixture of ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson.

Self Portrait, Oil on Canvas, 12″x16″ 2015