#OneWeek100People2019 Day Two: Selfie Series

Alright – time to get serious. The recent life drawing has been fun and games – I could do that all week.

But let’s talk motivation.

#OneWeek100People2019 is about everyone drawing together to share in the motivation. The group excitement. But also – the shared guilt. Nothing like making a big social media announcement to give you a short-term jolt of motivation!

But I think we also have to have long term personal goals.

If you’re a beginner it’s easy. Your goal is probably “I want to get better”. But after a while, you have to think about – “Get better at what?”. Why am I getting better?

Behind the scenes here, for the last year or so, I’ve been painting landscapes in the studio. This has become my most serious project to date. Serious enough I quit my day job! (Ok, well, I didn’t really have a day job, but I quit taking freelance illustration).

I feel like my opaque painting is taking off like mad. I’m loving it, and I’m thinking some very ambitious thoughts about big paintings and big art shows.

So, I do have long term goals! And my issue is how to fit 100 people into that :)

But you know what – right now I’m worried. Just like I was concerned I’d forgotten how to draw people, it’s been a LONG time since my last serious watercolor.

Thus, I’ve decided – for #OneWeek100People2019 – I really need to check in with water painting. Because #30x30DirectWatercolor is coming up right on my heels, and that’s a project that is going to me much more in line with this year’s goals.

To be honest – It’s not really responsible for me to be doing more life drawing on the street. I feel like, I’ve go that in hand. In previous years I’ve tried to lead by example and do all 100 on the first day. Last year I was one caffeinated drink short of making it. Gave up an hour too soon. Fun as it would be to do it again – it seems like it isn’t time well spent for me.

So – I’m going to enjoy all the figure drawing on location the rest of the world is doing – but at home, it’s time for some self-centered reflection on the meaning of life.

So – I say to myself – this year I’ll do 100 Selfies. 100 self-portraits have to teach me something.

Some artists make a rule for self-portrait series – no two portraits can be handled the same way – you must change technique or media. You’d HAVE to learn something just by brute force. So. I’m not sure I can do that, AND train my watercolors at the same time. But hey, let’s see what we see.

Some few warmup sketches later – I’ve realized selfies are a terrible subject in the context of #OneWeek100People!!! (<Already losing my way :)

A: It’s insanely boring – repeatedly painting my own face. I only made it to #3 and I’m gritting my teeth.

B: I’ve drastically slowed down since I was at my peak painting plein-air! The studio work, the relaxed pace of oil painting – it’s made me soft!

So – lets recap:

I really don’t like this painting.

I’m rushing to paint as fast as possible, aiming for that 100 goal – and not concentrating. I’m ending up with a kind of cartoon likeness. It’s illustrative. It’s high contrast – in the manner of an ink sketch. Which I love in ink, but I find obnoxious in paint.

When you don’t have middle value – (because ink is pure black/white) – then fine – you live with it. When you DO have values, I regret the instinct to go to a choppy hard-edged three value scale.

It’s a waste of potential. Watercolor is supposed to be subtle.

Alright then. Try again:

This time I get mad and act out with the Cadmium Red. But that’s a cheap trick.

Ok – what about DESTRUCTION TESTING!

Keep going well past the point where I should stop, and see what happens.

This is the same red painting, just overworked to death. I’m going to count it as a new work though. I washed over with naples yellow, pushed back with a solid 100% neutral tint, and scrubbed out with dirty water, dragged with a 2″ house painting flat, then rebuilt just a bit with richer honey-paint.

Doesn’t look much like me. This is Christian Slater-Me.

But it’s nothing like the way I was painting this morning.

Huh. Go figure.

I’m learning by brute force.

Try another set.

Mix bigger puddles, and blast some underlying shapes. Maybe I can make this one really loose – super wet in wet, yet ALSO improve the likeness.

Nope! Nice try. Doesn’t really look like me. This is George-Lucas me.

If it had been amazing – I’d have let it live. But naw – this is still nothing – still too cartoony.

Getting closer to my 51-year-old, 195lb face. But still, ain’t worth keeping.

So let’s destroy and rebuild:

Poured paint from some 2oz mixing cups. Tilted it around, poured some more. Raked with the 2″ bristle brush. Dropped in globs of Chinese white.

Alright! It’s not a sketch anymore – it’s a painting. Not – in my opinion, a great one – but still. I’m trying to really soak myself in watercolor here.

So that’s seven selfies on the first serious day. A long way from 100. But – I think you get where I’m at here. Maybe not an earth-shattering breakthrough – but – I’m

Off to bed, tomorrow’s another day in #OneWeek100People2019!