Self-Portrait

I was guided by my tutor to have a look at the self-portrait of Clara Serena Rubens, the artist daughter of Peter Rubens, a beautiful, sensitive portrait on a grey background and I love the translucent effect of the paint.

I focussed on the quality of execution, and as I mainly use pastels and have limited experience in painting, my brush strokes and application of paint have been a little rudimentary and crude up to now. Nevertheless, I decided to base my self-portrait on Rubens’ painting – in composition and colours, and dressed myself in a white top. I chose a limited palette similar to the Rubens portrait - Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Permanent Rose, Payne’s Grey, Indian Red and Titanium White, and used 20” x 20” canvas board with a Neutral Grey Acrylic as a base for the greyish colours of the skin.

I used a mirror, positioned to my side to create a sideward glance and made a loose drawing of my image in Burnt Umber, then blocked the face, neck and hair areas

I used a synthetic filbert brush and also my fingers, cotton buds, and rags to smooth the paint, and to try to achieve Rubens’ translucent result I introduced pink colours into the face, the mouth and around the eyes, and also some light in the forehead. Initially I didn’t wear earrings but felt that the composition needed something to make it come alive, and remembering Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring” I put on earrings to give the painting a certain feel of glamour.

My final Piece

I really like the translucent effect I achieved in the face though the likeness is not entirely there. I think I should have spent more time doing a better drawing at the beginning as the nose is too wide, the eyes should be more rounded, and the right cheek should be broader. I considered re-working the painting to fix these features but I was scared of overworking it and losing the translucent effect, as happened on the neck.

I also had some distortion due to the slight tilt in the position of the mirror, which I tried to correct a little while I was painting, and the highlights on the irises give the impression I was looking to the side when in fact I was looking straight at the mirror, but I like the effect so I decided not to change it.

Relating this to my research on women self-portraiture I can say that I used my freedom to practice painting myself and also as a means of learning, and found the experience very exciting and enjoyable.

Updated May 2020