In The Garden with Gracie
I freely admit, this was the most difficult self-portrait challenge I have ever done…
In the Garden with Gracie – 9 x 12 inch acrylic painting on watercolor paper
On my own, I would have never come up with this scenario for a self-portrait. But, Daily Paintworks had “The Garden Selfie Challenge” this week, and I am all for challenging my photography AND painting skills.
This was the challenge…
“Find a smallish mirror and a camera, find a nice spot in your garden or in the park.
Make a selfie of your face in the mirror, with the greenery behind the mirror.
This may take some juggling to get a satisfying picture! The challenge is to
paint this scene and make the mirror stand out as a special part of your
painting. The fact that your hand is visible ought to help.”
You can probably imagine the balancing act I had to perform just to get everything in the photo…my face, camera phone, hand, mirror…all in focus. THAT was a challenge in itself! But when the cat walked into the viewfinder, I knew that was the shot I had to take, and then paint.
This was a quick morning of painting. I could have fussed over this one for days on end, but I decided to leave a lot of details out, and focus on the mirror, the image in it…and yes, Gracie the cat. It’s not my usual kind of painting, but it is good to get out of my comfort zone every once in a while.
Like I said, it was the MOST challenging self-portrait I have ever done…but so worth the angst and the process!
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September is a month full of challenges…check out Leslie Saeta’s blog to see the other painters around the world, that are creating 30 Paintings in 30 Days this month! I’m in the best of company!
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Gracie the cat makes the painting! So I am still trying to wrap my head around how you took the photo–I’m assuming you painted from the photo unless you have more than two arms-lol. An interesting challenge.
Janet, taking the photo was NOT easy…but it would have been impossible to paint from real life 🙂 Yes, I took a photo, pulled it up on the iPad, and painted while looking at the photo reference. Sometimes, I wish I had more than two arms!!! And I will tell Gracie you like her in the painting…she will be pleased 🙂