Self Portrait in November, oil on panel, 10 x 14
Well, I didn’t have anything or anybody to paint today, and so here I am again. I started this painting a while ago, though I left it sit for a while as I worked on other painting projects. I do that- at any given time, I have eleven or twelve paintings going. It’s just how my brain works, I suppose, and it seems to drive my wife crazy.
I chose to paint this sketch underneath a skylight, located in another part of the warehouse which houses my studio. I just felt that the overhead lighting was in keeping with my mood today.
I want to work on this painting again, to refine it, to smooth some transitions. But overall, I am fine with this little sketch.
I didn’t crop the first photograph, so as to give the reader an idea of the small scale of the piece as it sits on the easel. I had to photograph it under electric lights, which makes the background seem uniform and black. It’s not, it’s actually quite brushy and thin, but the sameness of the electric lights, combined with the generalizing eye of the camera, have made this sketch seem much more opaque and polarized.
