Over the last ten years I’ve painted very little, only a few animal portraits and nothing else. I’ve had new paint and panels sitting around the last couple of years, with the intention of diving back in…it just took a while to get there.

Before I get moving full force, I thought I’d warmup with a self portrait. Traditionally, I dry-brush large portions of my paintings…but paint, mediums, and retarders have come a long way, so I’m trying to work the paint more like oils…it’s producing pretty good results so far.

This is part of the self portrait which I’m currently working on. The head is life size. The weather hasn’t been cooperating, so I’ve been spending more time working on the left side of my face, and will pick back up on the right side when I have stronger light from the window. Winsor & Newton glazing medium has proven to be very useful for blending and tinting…far better than using water, or regular medium.

I made a minor wrong-turn a few days ago when I impulively decided to dramatically change the lighting. An hour into darkening the left side of my face, I realized a made a mistake, and spent the rest of the day repainting and reclaiming what I had covered up.